Installing the Intake Manifold

I installed the intake manifold tonight after work.  While it is not a difficult job, I really dislike installing intakes.  The feeling has resulted from needing to reinstall this intake twice already in order to get it to seal properly. 

The first time, I installed the intake using the cork end seals and everything went together fine.  However, I walked out the next morning and found the cork gasket had popped out of place new the distributor.  The next time, I used RTV only to find it did not seal perfectly at the rear end seal.  The third time was the charm then and hopefully I learned a thing or two.

The intake is a Wieand Stealth which I installed about two years ago.  I used Fel-Pro 1250 gaskets on the head mating surface.  Before the installing the gaskets, I coated the head site and head with Permatex High Tack Sealant (#80062).  I then put a bead of Permatex Ultra Black RTV (#82180) around the front water ports.  Finally, I coated the front and rear portion block ends with Ultra Black RTV and dropped the intake in place.

The Edelbrock E-Street head instructions state the intake bolts should not be torqued over 18 ft/lbs.  The Weiand instructions for the intake suggest the outside 8 bolts be torqued to 15 ft/lbs with the inner 4 being torqued to 25 ft/lbs.  I decided to just torque them all to 16 ft/lbs.  I went through about 5 passes over the next hour to keep them torqued (and did it an extra time after 24 hours).

The engine is really coming together now.  I decided to call it a night although I had several additional parts I could go ahead and put on now that the intake is installed.