I took him the complete engine. Even left the crossover on. He pulled the intake to check the heads and eliminate the intake from the equation.

Got. It, that makes sense. Hopefully it will be an easy fix and you will quickly get back on the Water.

Padraig

I'm doubtful on the bolts being too long, you can feel the difference when tightening them. Not a mistake an engine builder is going to make. There must be something wrong about the geometry of the situation.

Im guessing its either the manifold itself is warped (definitly doesnt look rotted, pitted) or perhaps a gasket wasnt installed right


i triple checked all my hoses were sealed, i tried 2 different pumps, and i called 2 of my racing buddies to come double check me. All 3 of us agreed we could hear the air moving inside the motor.

I have a call i to him to see what he wants to do next. Worst case i guess i plane the intake or buy a new one.

My memory must be bad.

I looked at the bottom of the i take a year ago. I dont recall it being bad but just got off the phone and he thinks its pitted around the water ports. Hea machinning it now. Hopefully this nightmare is over.

Oh yea funny story about the 4th. (This is how bad my luck with boats is).

My FIL owns a little 23ft cobalt that he never uses. He calls me up and says he wants us to use it. He knows our situation and he hasnt used the boat since last summer. I flat out say NO! I figure with my luck the phucker will sink. Wife and son beg and i finally say fine. FIL SAYS ITS ALL READY TO GO, charged battery, had it running a week or so ago etc.

Now im up in the attic of my garage digging up wakeboards, kneeboards, tubes and every other toy known to man since we never get to use them with the velocity.

Load it all into the truck, drive to inlaws and then he already has boat hooked to his truck. So unload my truck and put in his truck. Finally head to lake. Stop and fill boat up with gas.

Get to lake. Take all the chit we brought and load it into the boat. Back down the ramp. Lower out drive....click click click click.......battery is dead! At this point im about fuming mad but finally say screw it not my day. Un load everything back into truck. About this time my phone is ringing off the hook. Buddies teying to get me to hop on with them. I decline and tell em i have a black cloud following me and im staying on land for their own protection.

I seriously am starting to feel like someone is telling not to boat this summer.

Hang in there, man.

Padraig

jb weld is the best way to repair intake gasket surface IMO, tried machining and re-welding, it just corroded faster in the heat affected zone. jb weld repaired area looked like new after a year.

No more than an intake costs relative to the rest of the engine I'd toss that one in the trash and buy new. Then again I'm used to throwing $$$ hand over fist at boats the last couple years.

I just looked on the summit racing site. They have a bunch of different brands from dart to summit to edlbrock Victor . That summit brand single plane has a very nice price on it. Prices go from 200 to around 450 or so

Summit racing has a bunch of single plane intakes. They even have there own brand which has a very attractive price. Go on line to look. If you call pick option 1 then 3 to ask for info on parts.They are in Ohio. if I order in th morning or early afternoon. It will be at my house the next day!!!.. If its in Stock at Ohio warehouse. I'm north of Buffalo ny I love that place I buy 95 percent of my parts there. Free shipping on anything over a hundred and no tax. Jegs racing may be closer.

I have a list of upgrades Im gonna do this winter. Ill add the intake to the already long list!

not only that but i wanna make sure this fixes it before i drop any more $. Im a little gun shy right now.

I did get my carb back from quick fuel yesterday. The replaced a bowl and gasket. The bowl must have been warped or something. I replaced the gasket and it still leaked. Since it had about 30 minutes on it since new i sent it back. They said they flow tested it and its good to go now.

I think veloc meant buy the intake this week. Instead of putting that one back on.

There are probly craigslist intakes all around you. Most of the single planes out there are copy of the Victor-Team G that yours is a clone of. I am looking at a 100 buck team g near me, even though I know I will be spending my time at dual plane RPM's. edit; just looked at your pic in post 2. that is a Dart intake? but still, I don't think you should trust it again.

I know. I just wanna get through the rest if the summer first before i drop any more $. I actually just ordered some an fittings from summit. 2 days is the delivery time. Im only looking for maybe 2 months of boating weather here. Then my son's sports will start and the boat will be sitting anyway

i plan to pressure check it before it goes in the boat. But yes i do agree with you all. New is better.

Checkout this one on summit racing # sum-226052. Single plane. It's 199 bucks. Not sure who makes it. I'm thinking professional products. I have one of their dual plane air gaps on my vette it's a nice manifold and more material around the outside of the runners which allowed room for larger head ports. Also it's been proven the single planes produce very comparable low rpm torque compared to dual plane. Stick with the single plane. It easier to tune the carb because it has more consistent even air flow to all cylinders

Getting sick of picking this thing up only to haul it back

its better but it leaked about 9# in an hour. Before it woukd last maybe 4 min.


I found a leak at the intake. Looks to be coming between gasket and head in at least 2 spots. Its leaking outside of the motor. I can't hear any air moving inside the motor this time.

Ill be ordering a new intake.

I have a dart now. Not sure what im gonna go with.

It will be a miracle if i boat this summer at this rate. Just cant believe im dealing with this chit again.

Hang in there. It seems like you are almost there.

Have you checked the intake gasket fit- there was a time where either the Dart or Merlin intake factory supplied instructions called for a gasket that had horrible fit and sealing. I filled a fresh motor with water twice before changing to a Merc gasket that fit around water ports much better and solved issue.

thank you ill look into that. Its seeping out above both water ports. I dont think its leaking in the motor at all now but i want it 100%. I'm Done phucking with this thing.

I have a couple of dual-plane stock merc aluminum intakes. The ones with the brass inserts in the water passages. 125 bucks shipped, and I will have one on your way Monday morning. But you probably want to stay with the big single plane, which I'm shopping for too. Another fix. Put the boat in the water, fire it up, and then start dumping radiator stop leak in the water right behind the boat. Seriously, you have no way of knowing if it's also leaking inside the engine at that manifold. It has to be a really catastrophic water leak before you can hear the air hissing.

Agreed.


Im losing patience. I dont expect the motor to be rebuilt but dam i paid for a turn key motor. I know hes not making $ on this but im out a chit load of hours removing and installing this motor. Im out about 3 hours alone just cleaning the bilge. Ive probably got close to $100 in gaskets i keep rebuying. $75 in fuel driving back and forth to pick it up.

Plus planning on when i can get into my buddys building to use his forklift. I have to plan around when hes working obviously. Not to mention its suppossed to be upper 90's here all week. My garage has ac but the warehouse doesnt.

rant over.

I think im gonna pull the intake myself. Anyone know which intake gasket i should use? Promaxx aluminum heads with a dart intake.

Auto parts store. 70 corvette with special high perf 454 or 427 engine. Felpro only.

Felpro 12523 dark fiber composite with blue printo seal around ports.measure your port sizes to verify, I had to trim mine a little . I like the permatex high torque gasket maker grey rtv. Paint it on with acid brush around water ports both sides of gaskets right to edge. You can paint the sealer on head and intake surfaces also. Only around water ports. All 4 corners then a high wide bead at ends maybe 3/8 high. No end seals just glue. Before you apply sealer on anything you can lay gaskets in and set manifold on so you measure how much sealer to use. Once manifold is tight wait till it's dry. A couple days and use sharp razor to trim excess off.

One more thing I always do. Once engine is started and heating up. Start tightening the intake bolts while it's running keep going through the torque sequence until the bolts hold torque. You will be surprised at how much more they turn in once it goes through a heat cycle. By hand with 3/8 rachet, Allen wrench or box end. It takes quite a bit of pull by hand to get 30 ft lbs.

I'm out of here good luck fever

MR Gasket 121 or 122 depending on if the heads were cut or intake. Put some Ultra Black or Right stuff around the water ports. Both sides, front of the intake and rear of the intake.

You only put the black stuff around the water ports.....not the others? I would think it wouldnt lay flat unless you did the whole gasket? I dunno, thats why i am asking. Also am i understanding correctly you put it on both sides of the gasket?

Also
heads had .008 taken off of them to make sure they were flat

intake was planed .0015. Does that change anything as far as gasket is concerned?

I had to get thicker intake gaskets when I assembled my engine. The manifold bottomed out on the block before it touched the gaskets on the heads. Ended up with the thicker Fel Pro intake gaskets... ;)

do you happen to know which #?

For what its worth, I would double check your intake. When we rebuilt our 502 motor last year, I had similar problem with milkshake in top end but bigger issue was water pressure problem. The intake was cracked in 3 places and also warped. Luckily the water from engine was not getting into cyls but the air pressure in manifold was pressurizing the water in the block creating high water pressure and flow issues. Ended up blowing out head gaskets as well. Caught it in time, put new intake on it and all problems went away! Still put water pressure relief in to dump excess overboard and put nice puke tank in to let motor breathe nicely and all is good now!

where was the intake cracked? I have a a relief plumbed in. My water psi gauge never shows over 15#. Im taking the reading from the front of the intake. I think im good to go just need to get it sealed up better. My builder said the intake actually fit better now that is was cut down.

I used the Felpro 12755 gaskets.. they are .120" thick as opposed to the .060" thick Felpro 1275 gaskets.


https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-12755

No telling if THAT'S your issue without seeing it mocked up..
On MY engine the intake was sitting on the block and I could move it back and forth between the heads with the .060" thick Fel Pro's installed..
But my heads were milled quite a bit. Not sure exactly how much but I went from 119cc chambers to 114cc chambers on AFR heads

Cabin fever, both sides of gaskets at water ports only and on heads and intake at water ports only. You can run a bead around then spread / paint it all the way around. Around ports on heads, both sides of gaskets and intake water ports. In this order. Paint 3/8 to 1/2 wide. Heads then backside of gaskets, where passages are blocked just paint the whole area on heads and intake. stick gasket and center them on heads, pressing the gaskets lightly with finger tip to get them to stick. Now paint top of gasket while it is adhering to the heads. Lay a wide tall bead on the front and rear intake between block and intake. Don't use the cork or rubber seals. Last paint the ports on the intake and carefully stand directly over engine eyeball the holes and lay it in. Install bolts snug them down maybe 15 lbs, wait 15 min, go back start tightening to torque. Retorque next day. Then when engine is warming up ,start torque sequence again till bolts hold torque.

I lay the gaskets on card board to paint the glue on it isn't anywhere near as messy plus the gaskets won't move around allowing you to work faster

Got it.

Ill report back in a few days. Cant mess with it tonight so tomorrow will try to remove and clean/reinstall and then thursday try to test again.

Update
 

I ended up taking the phucker back again. This time it was made very clear its not going back in my truck till its fixed. He called yesterday and said bring your pump and what ever else you want to check

happy to report it appears to be fixed this time. He said he didnt see anything wierd when he removed it but he did use a different intake gasket with a steel core. He typically uses em on turbo or blown motors but wasnt sure why it kept leaking. First time when it was leaking in the motor was a felpro gasket. Then he pulled intake and planed it down and out it back together with a me gasket intake gasket and it leaked outside the motor.


Either way i pumped it up and waited 30 minutes. It dropped about 1# but my thermostat hoising was seeping so i am pretty sure its fixed.

Hopefully drop it back in tomorrow morning and get it fired up tomorrow evening.

Good to hear that it's finally solved, and hopefully for many years to come. It's amazing how many brand new engines get toasted by a $5 part. Party on, Garth!