Put a straight edge on it. Smooth and flat are two different things. Head set is only 66 dollars. I did not to tear mine down either but I dont want to do it again next year. When holding manifold to head with no gasket does it lay flat? If not it is only a matter of time before it blows again. Back to finishing mine.
Check them with a straight edge just to be sure. You can spray a little paint on them and then use a flat file to check. If there are spots that still have paint, those are low spots. Just like bodywork!
I used a sanding block with some good 50-80 grit to clean the head surface. I have an old plastic long board for body work that helps clean them flat. The manifolds are pretty easy to deal with off the vehicle. A big belt sander works pretty good, or a machine shop. The top bolts are the biggest labor. On my last 390, I left it set a week or so and every time I walked past it I sprayed some more PB blaster and tapped with a hammer. I still had several bolts that just wouldn't come loose.
Well the bolts came right out but the manifold is still attached at the pipe. Bolts didn't look to good and since I'm pressed for time I don't want to rake a chance on breaking bolts
They were warped bad it seems. With the side bolts instead of top and bottom it's hard to get the top to seal. With a little bit of rtv I hope it seals. I will start it in the morning. Does anyone have suggestions for good intake gaskets to use?
Side or top and bottom, if they're not straight, they're probably going to crack after a while if you force them "in place'. And it would appear that you may have a later 66-69 390GT engine in there, as your car should have top & bottom bolt manifolds, not side-to-side- what's the casting code from between the center spark plugs? Something like CxxE 6090-x
For 7 years I kept 16 to 18 ford trucks on the road all w FEs. Stopping exhaust leaks was a major problem at first until I got totally***** about it. Have your manifolds shot peaned and surfaced and use new grade 8 bolts. As for gaskets, most any will work fine .. The key is keeping them tight. Grade 5 bolts go soft from the heat and you will burn gaskets instantly. The best gaskets iv used lately are the solid aluminum header gaskets.
If I've done 1 I've done 100, they all leak. All the gaskets in the world won't help if they are warped. The ONLY way to do it right is take the heads off, have them milled on the exhaust flange surface and have the manifolds surfaced. I usually see about 4 or 5 FE engines with this leaky problem in my shop each year.
I just used the felpro metal gaskets on a set of headers on my 352. I replaced all the bolts with grade 8 bolts, and tightened them after every time I drove it for two weeks. It sealed up pretty good. I also put a small amount of copper high temp sealant on both sides of the gasket in the corner of the ports. Next time I think I will use the remflex gaskets, just because they are more forgiving for any imperfections in the head or manifold.
Well I think it quit leaking at the heads but I think it may be leaking at the pipe. It kind of makes a rattling sound from underneath the car. There isn't any clearance issues I can find. Just got a good leak at the muffler now. It sounds like it may have a small cam
I once heard that a picture of an FE leaks oil. I guess that picture leaks exhaust too! I never had a truly exhaust leak free FE until I put aluminum heads and headers on my current car.
Ok so now the wedding is over and I'm going to start gathering parts to rebuild the top end. What kind of intake gaskets do you guys recommend?
If both your heads and manifolds have been surfaced, you don't need to run with gaskets. Just use FelPro MS95000 or Corteco 18072 metal heat shields.
the installation of the fel pro gaskets for my 390 actually called for rtv on the corners of the intake
i went through about 3 different types of gaskets on mine and finally worked with the header gaskets. I ahve a set of extra fel pro I can sell ya for 5 bucks. The fel pro worked on first rebuild.
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