Projects Joe's American Graffiti Coupe with a Man A Fre (Milner Coupe Clone)

I hate to do it. It's such a rare manifold. I sure sits flat now! If I do have to modify it then I won't hesitate.

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There will be a gasket lip now If I go this way. The intake ports are definitely smaller than the double hump ports. We could open up the manifold ports a bit but I really don't like thinning those out. We are looking at using the Fel-pro 1245 small port double thick gaskets instead of the removed Fel-pro 1205 larger standard thickness gaskets. They should be a better fit for the intake. But unfortunately there will be a gasket lip.

Do you think it would be a major improvement to have a machine shop match port the intake?

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No,,,,,don’t screw around with that,,,it will be fine as it is .
You need all the sealing surface you can get in the port area .
I would go with the thick gaskets,,it should set it right back up in line then .
You are getting close to the goal line,,,,don’t over think this now .

Tommy

 

Yes sir! Thank you!

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That is a beautiful engine inside. Very nice. I admire your tenacity, I would have given up long ago and went for a single four barrel. I’m really anxious to see how it runs when you get it all sorted out. Maybe post a video here when you are finished?


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Absolutely. Thank you for the compliments. The engine is a virgin 1965 327 Chevy motor .030 over 10-1/2-1 Keith Black pistons, Crane cam, Eagle rods, Scorpion roller rockers, among other goodies. It is topped by a movie correct Man-A-Fre Atlanta Casting 4 deuce intake & correct Rochester 2-G's right down to the correct accelerator pump arms.

I can't wait to see it run at its best. Through two owners and several years it has never really ran to its full potential. Thanks to the HAMB family, I may be close to reaching my goal. Thank you!

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I really like your attitude and the car, keep at it and it will happen! Gary

 

The can for the pcv thats is in the lifter valley ,shows sign of something hitting it ,I have heard of it holding up intakes. We used to remove them and plug them with a freeze plug and use pcv valve.

 

Thank you sir. I really appreciate the support.

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Yes sir.
I thought that as well. I checked it against the intake and didn't find a clearance issue. I did tap the high points a bit with a wrench and checked again with a marker and no gaskets. Looks like it is fine. I bet it might have been an issue in the past. Thanks for the info. Any help is much appreciated!

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A question for the future. Currently my car's distributor is set to 16 and 32. How do I know if my car would like more timing?

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A quick history:

Before teardown it was idling a bit high and running much stronger with instant acceleration, but still a bit too rich. After putting it back together I will strictly follow the tuning guidelines stated here my Mike and Moriarity.

If it is still running too rich I will do as Moriarity has also suggested and go back to the power valves and 50 jets.

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How much does timing matter? Why should you never go beyond 34 for advanced? Is that due to detonation issues?

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Today's the day. I'm refitting the intake manifold, again. Wish me luck. Hopefully Brad will give me some help from the sky. I'll post some alignment shots with the gaskets later this morning.

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go buddy go

 

Here's the alignment with the thicker Felpro 1245.
They are a rubber like material. Feels quite stiff.
Is this a good fit? This is without trimming the gasket.

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Because of the oval bolt holes in gasket I'd do this. Get 4 blocks of wood (3/4" thick) wide and long enough to cover front and rear water ports and drill holes in wood to match. Now with nuts and bolts rtv gasket to intake at water ports (thin film) place blocks over gasket and bolt it together and let sit until cured. This will allow you to see and adjust gasket to intake runners much better and hold it in place when sitting it onto engine. By the way, why not cut the bridging off gasket so hole will become a single square like that of intake?

 

Over the years of removing intakes and even heads I have used a set of body files my father left me to clean off the surfaces. Not perfection by any means and not machining but clean removal of leftover stickum.
I’ve even got the holder that could arc then either way for lead removal.
For me just lay the on on the surface and with 2 palms slide them until all the junk is removed.

 

I will trim the center of the gasket ports for sure. It's looking like I may have to wait a few weeks until my friends can help me. I really want this to work. Here's the alignment with intake on and bolts will now start. No problem there. The double thickness gaskets bring it up perfectly.

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Those sound quite helpful. I used scrapers, razor blades, and some fine sandpaper to clean up the heads. It took forever but I think everything is super clean. Not perfectly smooth though. Needs a final acetone wipe before gluing.

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Well looky there. Since I've never work with one of those intakes I did not think to know you have a front row seat to the show. That's awesome. Never mind.

 

I really like your idea of letting the rtv set up around the water ports. Is it ok that the gasket is wider than the head surface? Do I need to worry about extra sitting over the lifter valley? I know that I will have to trim the top of the gaskets a small amount as they will interfere with my valve cover gasket fitment. They are just a bit too tall for the holes to line up perfectly. Any opinions?

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Think of gasket as a dinner plate and a fancy restaurant. The Chef don't care that the meal (head) is way small by comparison.

 

nick I don't see any advantage in trimming the gasket in the centre of the inlet ports that little piece of gasket holds the gasket in place.cutting it out will allow the top of the gasket to move relative to the bottom when fitting the manifold.

 

I was just thinking of that to center the bolt holes. Maybe not. I've just got a very small amount of adjustment before the intake runners are over the gasket edge or the gasket bolt holes are showing. Here's the best set up of it I can get without trimming. See that it interferes a bit with the valve cover gasket placement. You can see the outer lip of the gasket is over my gasket edge of the head.

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The thing that I see about leaving gasket material behind and photo's show it is that the center portion lifts. I see that as a point of turbulence. Like reed flutter. Those gaskets are beefy top and bottom.

 

Here's my mock up for the day. I found an original GM thermostat housing. It's cast aluminum. I polished it up a bit. I definitely need a black or grey gasket for it. The blue looks terrible.

My China wall gaps look pretty good. They look to be about the gasket thickness or 0.125. I think Right Stuff or RTV will fill that up just fine.

I put the gasket down naked with the intake manifold laying on them. I just started a few bolts to keep it there. Can I leave it like this for a couple weeks? I don't think anything will hurt it.

I guess this is my lot for COVID sacrifice. Not bad considering people are sick, out of work, or even dead. I just want so bad to drive this car and to see it happy. Someday.

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You are there , we are not , judging " fitment by photograph" is " meh". You are going to choose the best compromise . If necessary you can trim/ notch the corners of the intake gaskets at the China wall / head meeting to adjust height . A dab of silicone /gasket cement with the gasket held in place with masking tape overnite will maintain alignment during assy. Trimming extra gasket at the valve cover rail would be easy then, before you mount the manifold. Right stuff or silicone will easily bridge 1/4" . Your doing fine !! Keep it up .

 

Looks like you have fittin good.

 

sorry nick didn't realise that issue was there!.ive had custom gaskets cut on a cnc gasket machine local.is there anywhere near you could cut some custom gaskets with the extra material where you need it.arent felpro gaskets made in the usa.no stopping now.chris

 

h
neat fuel rail

 

That is cool!

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