I've never installed recirc pumps / cross overs without finger painting silicone (I use ultra black because I'm a junky :) ) on both sides of gasket.

No warpage is good.

that flange is pretty thin...looks like 1\8 inch ............yes goop on the black stuff

sb,ditch the ultra black and try the right stuff,you will be amazed at how much stronger it is.

I know people love it. And thus I wouldn't advise against it. I'm just an ultra black addict and there are no organizations I can join to stop my addiction. :)

Once you go Ultra blk, you neva go back..................lol

Thanks fellas. I have ultra black. Ive heard good things about the right stuff too

You could also lay a piece of sandpaper on a table and take some of the curve out of the 2 flanges.

I hone small flanges, exhaust risers by hand with a Norton combination stone (2"x6/8") until flat...a bit of WD40 or solvent as lubricant..brush on sealer for water joints... Looks like the goop will work...!

What was wrong with the engine anyway? That was a quick recovery!

Heads were not flat. Said he took .008 off which doesnt seem like much to me. He said it appeared all 8 cylinders were leaking from the get go but #5 gave up fight mostly. He swears he double checked head gasket #'s too

ill be nervous boating for awhile now. It will not be pretty if i have to pull this thing out again

in his defense he was very apologetic and im only out my time and a few odds/ends so could be worse. i just wanna do more boating and less wrenching.

Sounds like builder stood behind his work which is not that common today. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

my biggest worry was he was gonna cover the repair...by October! you really did right by him. what heads were they?

Also interested in what heads they are, please .???

Promaxx heads.

I told him i hadnt heard good things about em but he said he uses em alot and never had a problem. I guess im the llucky phucker who gets to go first

NEW ISSUE NOW:
this phucking thing wont hold pressure. It will build up and steadily falls. I replaced both crosser gaskets and used the right stuff on both sides of gasket then let it cure for over an hour (said can be used immediatly). I can hear the air escaping in the motor if i put my ear to the oil fill on the valve cover.

I am so unbelievably pissed right now.

Take the intake manifold off. Get another manifold gasket. Fab 4 plates to block water passages on heads. Wood or steel. Wood you can do easy by holding them under intake and drilling thru. Bolts with fender washers and a couple of pennies under the low side to compensate for the bolt angle. Use sealer and bolt intake gaskets on. NOW pressure test engine. You hear hissing? Spray soap under heads at gasket edge. No hissing or pressure loss? It is the intake.

Dowel pins. To long????? Omg hope not

^^^Had some heads that the dowel pin receiver holes where not machined correct and this happened.^^^^

Had a 502 (they have blind bolt holes in the block) that the head bolts where a tad too long and bottomed out before properly squeezing the headgaskets.

^^^^^
I have had the head bolts bottom out before the gasket is properly compressed.
Take the valve covers off, Are there washers under the head bolt heads? IF there are remove one bolt at a time and remove the washer and then put the bolt back in.
Does the bolt get tight before it hits the head. IF it does the bolt is too long. IF they are too long I have ground off just a little before - I don't know if this is proper but on a stock engine I don't believe it would be a problem. Put sealant on the bolt and re torque it. Then do the next.

Check all around head between deck and cylinder head face with shim make sure it's the same allege way around

Good point. I think I'll go go have a heart attack now

wondering if the angle is off on the intake due to head machining or gasket thickness, still favor the intake gasket for this type issue

.008 isn't enough to mess up that angle.. 060 thick intake gasket. If you you felpro composite fiber, it will compress. I never use the permatorque style on intakes. They don't conform easily

Cabin fever
 

I checked my engine on the stand last night with feeler gage. There are gaps that you can get feeler gage into all the way around the head and easily accessible gaps on each end of head. My engine is between. 039 and.040 all the way around tighter at one end than the other. Same on both heads. There are small gaps you can get feeler gage towards the outside of block and on the valley side also but intake would have to come off. No paint on my heads yet. Should be enough gaps available to squeeze some shim into on yours also. Did you say your heads were pressure tested,????

Veloc, do you mean you can get a feeler gauge to go between head and block till it hits the head gasket? Cuz if you can get .001 to go between gasket and either, you are in worse shape than fever...

Yes between head and block. They are felpro 1047 marine gaskets. I figured the gasket isn't exactly the same end to end. But now that you mentioned it I'm going to check with. 001 right now

Just so you PPL know the 1047 gasket is actually 17048 part # stamped on gasket. It checks out. . 001 will not go in anywhere. I measured my old gaskets that have like 4 hrs on them. The measure. 0435 at one end and. 0425 at other. Obviously compress down to.. 039

I am interested in this post because I had some water in both of my engines no where near that bad. I thought condensation because of 140 t stat and large oil cooler but not sure. Any way just as worried as cabin is and hate to this **** happen to anyone it sucks.

If oil never hits 210 and stays a while, what little water gets in will never boil out.

I agree completely with you

Im still trying to decide what im going to do. I didnt sleep at all last night thinking about this chit show.

Im tempted to yank the intake. It will need to come off anyway. I might pull the plugs and pressure test again

i might drive it off a cliff set fire to it and get drunk.

Who's been putting the intake on - you or him ?

I'm a bit puzzled by all of this after your builder returned the motor to you. Being your original problem and the guy took care of it why in the world did you two not discuss and resolve this before you even put the motor back in? Builder seemed to be standup guy but yet you still have issues? Might want to step away for a few days and tackle it when you can think straight. BTDT. Good luck.

Pull the intake. The gaskets are cheap. Somethings wrong, your engine builder may have missed something. No one is perfect. At then you can take a look for yourself. Pay special attention to sealing surfaces and how are compressed, line up. Be careful not to damage gaskets, your going to need to take a close look at them. Check that intake for leaks too might thin wall somewhere. Then you can check and see if your heads are seated.

Cabin
 

BING!!!! I was just looking at my Valley pan. Do you have one? I had to modify the tabs on them so they wouldn't interfere with intake gaskets and intake manifolds. If a corner gets under or over the gasket anywhere it will prevent the manifold from sealing. Also need to make sure your gaskets will end up thicker than the valley pan. You don't need the pan in there, you can leave it out. They came in the factory blocks from mercruiser

To answer the questions

builder installed intake. I have not touched anything on this motor except bolt ons. It doesnt even have oil in it yet.

he told me it was fixed. I picked it up I took his word for it and dropped in boat. For what ever reason decided to pressure check again the other day. And that is where i am at.

We will be having a discussion about a few things. Im tired of playing boat mechanic.

You'll be able to see the pan through distributor hole or pushrod holes. He might have missed that. Aftermarket heads, different gaskets, ect.

Buy a boat they said. It would be fun they said.

We're rooting for ya, Cabin Fever!

I honestly dont know if it does or not. Mine is a bow tie block. Im hesitatnt to pull the intake only cause i dont want rhe liability if something happens down the road. But at this point i may have no choice.

Also not to sound like a dick but what should i have discussed with him? I brought him a screwed up motor that i had nothing to do with. He said it was fixed, apologized and said if i had issues to call him. In hindsight i guess i should have insisted he verify it was fixed but honestly i thought it would be common sense

hes not a shade tree mechanic by any means. I know plenty of people who swear by him. Hes a nice guy too so indont think hes the type to try to screw some over by any means.

Gonna try calling him now.

Good you brought this up. We have many threads on this. GM/Merc factory gaskets have the notch for these, but aftermarket intakes don't. Slight cutting of the intake gaskets and you are all set.

How could he know if it was all fixed with no oil in it? Which means it wasn't started and run. A call to the builder is definitely in order. Good luck.

Yea he didnt run it again. How ever its probably a good thing he didnt. I dont think its leaking bad enough yet to see an issue. It holds psi for a second and slowly drops back down. Im guessing 3 or 4 hours run tim id be back where i was.

Im "guessing" it probably would have had this issue tje very first time i picked it up but he actually ran it on the stand for me then (ran awesome). So we didnt check it

im starting to wonder if the heads were even the problem to start with.