AMC 304 Intake manifold

I found this thread over on another forum:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/jeep-304-intake-gasket-problem-1222953/

"The valley pan gasket with sealant is all you need. The instructions are confusing with the intake. Do not use the Edelbrock 7213 gasket with the valley pan. The intake will not sit down far enough to put your bolts in."


I think I will also remove the head shield from the bottom of my stock manifold and bolt it tot he bottom of the Edelbrock manifold. And you guys are 100% right, no need to remove the distributor.

Oh, as a side note for anyone thinking about installing an intake manifold. You will probably need an engine hoist to pop off the old intake manifold. I rented one this Saturday and I was a bit surprised how much lifting pressure it took to pop it off and the hoist I used was a big one! Definitely put some padding on the top / backside of the manifold so it doesn't hit the firewall.

 

It is common to eliminate the rubber end seals and use just a bead of silicone. The rubber seals tend to squirt out making a massive leak, especially if you use some sealant on them.

Haven't done an AMC V8, but the V8s I've seen - the rivets have a ribbed shaft and just pry out. Don't grind them off until you try to lever them out. You should be able to reuse them in the new manifold.

 

It seems that there was no RTV around the intake ports just the water ports. What is the recommended way to install the manifold? With RTV on all attaching surfaces?

It would appear -

Clean areas to get RTV applied to them
Apply RTV to ends of block omitting gaskets
Apply RTV around water ports (intake ports also??)
Install aluminum tray
Apply RTV to same areas on top of the metal pan as applied under
Install manifold

Seem right???

 

Cleaning is good. I'd clean all the mating surfaces.

You have a Felpro gasket? What does Felpro recommend for the valley cover? And the head-to-manifold gaskets?

I'd use spray Coppercoat for the aluminum valley cover and/or manifold-to-head gaskets - I assume that the valley cover is one big piece that seals the manifold to the heads too? I'd use a bead of silicone at the ends of the valley, to seal the block to the manifold. Don't go wild with the sealant - use too much and you may get blobs of sealant in the valley, potentially clogging the oil paths.

You could put a little silicone around the water ports, but I'd think the Coppercoat would be enough. I kinda suspect that any silicone there now is from previous repairs, not from the factory.