help with 383 intake (mopar)

ok so my daily driver (1968 chrysler newport) was leaking all around the intake manifold ports. and im in the process of replacing the gaskets. ok heres the rub, i took off the manifold and there is no gasket besides the metal ones attached to the valley pan. and theres no sealant on the heads or the manifold. is this right? when i bought the gasket kit i had to buy the pan and the gasket separately, but the pan still has the metal sides and the manifold gasket is two per side, almost like i should sandwich the metal in between the fiber ones, does this sound right?

sorry for the long question if its incoherent i will try to explain better. thanks in advance!

matt

 

cmon, nuthin?

 

clear as mud

 

the big block dodge uses only thesteel valley pan as a gasket and no sealant is needed. If you still have leaks after replacing the gasket I would suspect the problem is a warped manifold. I used to have a 383 in a charger that I would swap out the stockmanifold with a high rise and a 850 holley just about every weekend for racing and then put the stock manifold and carb back on for daily driving and all I ever used was the steel valley gasket, I could usually get away with using the gasket a couple of times with out replacing it, although in hindsight I dont recommend reusing the gasket.

 

aluminum manifolds may not compress the gasket well enough to not leak,Chrysler started making paper gaskets available in mid 69 when the 6 bbls came out. I suspect thats what you are supposed to use. The ones from Chrysler were very thin and were used top and bottom on the steel gasket (dry) with a dab of sealer on the corners of the valley. Hope this helps.

 

it is a cast iron manifold so it seems like it would compress the gasket ok. thanks alot guys

matt

 

I think I remember the Fel-Pro embossed steel gasket for the BB MoPar wedge engines coming with a little tube of sealant. The sealant is very similar to the Permatex liquid Aviation Sealer (purplish black sticky liquid stuff, not RTV). A film of that stuff on the gasket surfaces and bolt threads and your manifold won't leak.

http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-8001...6?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1173300515&sr=1-13

Trying to sandwich those paper gaskets in there is very difficult unless you had the manifold or heads milled to make up for the additional thickness.

 

On my RB (440) engines I dab a little anearobic sealer around the ports to hold it in place when replacing the intake manifold. I have never had trouble sealing one. Some of my racing buddies use the valley tray as well as regular gaskets, but they soak the gasket in oil and reuse it each time. Good luck.

 

I've got a 68' 383 and I don't have any gaskets just the valley pan to the heads. It shocked me the first time I took it off. I would think that the heavy ass intake would seal that up safely without a gasket. Never had a problem with mine.

 

YEP...Stock uses JUST the metal vally pan....now on my 440 I used the valley pan AND gaskets on top of that, because I used thicker head gaskets to lower the comp ratio....otherwise the ports won't line up, vacuum leak...