[Skip Fix]

Try and blend the ports back up wider. use a snap gauge to keep the width of the port up higher into the port and up at the top of the port. the repop I had we had to add weld in areas of the divider and the top of the port as there was so much core shift on some of the pairs.

[Verdoro 68]

I wasn’t sure how much to take off and how far back to go. Sounds like I could go wider, farther up to the port. Dumb question - is the general idea to keep the port the same width as much as possible as far up the plenum? I want to avoid “hogging” this thing out.

There are a couple port dividers that are pretty close to the gasket, but I didn’t find any places where I’d need to add material. Maybe I got lucky. I’m using a 1233 gasket.

[Skip Fix]

I think most good intakes have so taper from a larger port getting smaller at intake/manifold opening

[Verdoro 68]

Pics I’m using for reference from Cliff, Jim Hand and SD. These are cast iron, not sure what the casting difference is, but I see a couple of them have the middle of the plenum cut back a lot more than mine.

The third pic looks like what I have going on. In an old post Cliff said not to cut the notch unless you can dyno test. Seems like it either helps a lot or hurts a lot. Jim Hand put the notch in his spacer, so I’ll just leave it out.

Cliff’s intake:

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Pics I’m using for reference from Cliff, Jim Hand and SD. These are cast iron, not sure what the casting difference is, but I see a couple of them have the middle of the plenum cut back a lot more than mine.

The third pic looks like what I have going on. In an old post Cliff said not to cut the notch unless you can dyno test. Seems like it either helps a lot or hurts a lot. Jim Hand put the notch in his spacer, so I’ll just leave it out.

Cliff’s intake:

Touching on what Cliff said about not cutting the notch unless you can dyno test is exactly what I was eluding to with the spacer deal. Leave the intake alone, use a short 1/2" spacer and cut the notch in that. Easy to swap back and forth at the track or on a dyno, only takes 5 minutes. See if it makes a difference. If it doesn't help, then you didn't permanently modify the intake, remove the spacer and move on to other things.

One other thing I've always done is follow what Jim Hand did, which I don't see in those pictures. Always seemed that Jim wanted the front primaries in the intake to be the same size as the throttle blades of the Q-jet, basically making the divider pretty thick in that area and then quickly thinning down towards the rear barrels. Not shown in those pictures.
So basically the top of the intake opening matched the primaries on the carb, then take that design and blend and open wider inside the intake. The idea was to create a venturi affect on the primaries and better throttle response. That's how I've seen Jim do his intakes. He would do the same with spacers.

[Formulajones]

Here is an iron BBC intake I was working on with a 1" spacer, done in a similar fashion as a Pontiac intake. Can't tell in these pics but I also raised and smoothed the roof at the transitions to help make the turn. It's tricky to get the grinders in there.

The end product I also trimmed the outside of the spacer to mimic the intake and gasket, then painted it blue. Looked like part of the intake at that point.

[Verdoro 68]

It's a pretty hard turn on the intake I'm working on too. I was wondering about smoothing it out.

Generally, I'm feeling ok about the port clean up work on this intake for my first time doing this. I left everything at 80grit. Seems it's better to leave the finish rougher than smoother, but I'm not sure what the standard is. The pics make it look more uneven than it is for some reason. You can see a couple spots where I caught the grinder on the gasket surface.

There are casting seams in the ports I'm wondering about. They push the port wall very close to, or right on top of, the gasket. I was wondering if it's worth the trouble of leveling them out with some epoxy.





I think I've taken the top end of the manifold about as far as I can with a grinder. If I wanted to cut it back to a straight divider, I'd need to take it to machine shop to be milled out.

[Verdoro 68]

Outside of that...I'm working on boring stuff a little out of order from the way I'd normally do it since I'm waiting on the heads. Got the front cover fit and installed. Put the balancer on, put the Tomahawk windage tray on, started clearancing the FlowKooler water pump and divider.

I also picked up a new oil filter housing. It looks like my original had a crack in it that was JB Welded at some point (I probably did it). The oil pressure sender fitting was just about stripped out too and couldn't be tightened all the way. I'm pretty sure one or both was contributing to an oil leak.

[77 TRASHCAN]

What brand is oil filter housing?

Question for you, others...plenum picture on post 207. Do you just break the edge at the bottoms of the plenum cuts (where the plenum enters the intake runners). Wondering if there is desired width of taking that sharp edge down?

Next thought.. those edges that turn into the runners...would it be good cut that curved area entering the runners, making that turn through a straightened line (of course not leaving a sharp edge, when done) instead of though the bottom of the round machined hole?

[Verdoro 68]

I ordered it from Butler, but it's an Ames part (N219RH).

https://butlerperformance.com/i-2445...au-n219rh.html

Exact diecast reproduction GM oil filter housing. Exceeds OEM quality. Manufactured with the most modern machine tool technology available. Features oil filter bypass with correct opening rate, which is a must for any rebuild. Bypass eliminates the chance of oil starvation and pressure loss due to filter restriction and/or filter failure. Steel threaded insert for oil filter, ensures oil filter will remain fastened correctly and threads won't wear or strip over time.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

What brand is oil filter housing?

Question for you, others...plenum picture on post 207. Do you just break the edge at the bottoms of the plenum cuts (where the plenum enters the intake runners). Wondering if there is desired width of taking that sharp edge down?

Next thought.. those edges that turn into the runners...would it be good cut that curved area entering the runners, making that turn through a straightened line (of course not leaving a sharp edge, when done) instead of though the bottom of the round machined hole?

That's what I do, sort of treating it like the short turn in a cylinder head. It's a bit difficult to get in there and do it by hand because you can only access it from one side, but can be done to a satisfactory level.

[Verdoro 68]

Not much progress over the weekend. I decided to put the pan on which I usually save until last, but I thought I might help keep the internals clean while I wait for the heads. I used Permatex Ultra Grey on the back corners around the main cap and at the timing cover bends of the pan.

I ended up cutting off the tabs on the BOP pan gasket because they weren't lined up exactly with the slots on the oil pan and causing the seal to sit on the ridge on the main cap unless I pried it into place. I used the support brackets on the corners with longer bolts and torqued everything down to BOP spec. I think it's about as sealed as it's going to be.



The Harland Sharp Diamond Series rollers I ordered a few weeks ago also arrived. They're quite a bit less chunky than the PRWs so they'll probably have an easier time fitting under stock valve covers. I've run rollers before with the 1/4" gasket and it hasn't been an issue.

Comparison pics just because (HS is orange, PRW is blue)

[Verdoro 68]

The Harland Sharps come with beefier poly locks the larger roller wheel sticks out further from the body.

[grandam1979]

I would have used a cork gasket on the rear of the pan myself with that style rear main cap. That main is cut to hold the gasket. Just my 2¢

[HWYSTR455]

Ah, for some reason I was thinking the PRWs you had were the stainless ones, good thing you got the HSs.

You still might want to check the rocker clearance to cover if you are using OE covers.


.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

I would have used a cork gasket on the rear of the pan myself with that style rear main cap. That main is cut to hold the gasket. Just my 2¢

It is, but the BOP gasket is the same width as the cork seal. Seems to crush and fit the channel well, but you can see that it sits about 1/2 way between the slots in the pan in the pics. Not sure if that's a seal problem or a pan problem, but the instructions say it's ok to remove them if you need to. Thinking about filling it up and angling the stand a bit to see if I have any leaks at the rear while I wait for the heads.

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Ah, for some reason I was thinking the PRWs you had were the stainless ones, good thing you got the HSs.

You still might want to check the rocker clearance to cover if you are using OE covers.

.

No, I had the cheapie PRWs. Except for the valves, springs and associated hardware, I've used very little of what Kauffmann sent me for the original build plan.

[grandam1979]

I didn’t realize you used a one piece gasket my bad. I have one here I need to look at it better.

[Verdoro 68]

Filled the block up with oil and tipped it back to test the rear main the pan gasket. It looks sketchy in the pic, but don't worry, it wasn't going anywhere. I was feeling confident so of course it leaked like a sieve! I thought it was the arch on the back of the pan, but that looks to be sealing ok. Looks like the rear corners of the pan gasket are the culprit. Rear main shows no signs of leaking at the moment.

The Ultra Grey I used on the corners did not adhere to the block at all and might be reason why it leaked so bad. I cleaned the block rails pretty well with brake cleaner before installing and it's been sitting for 4 or 5 days now, not sure why it didn't stick. There wasn't a problem using it to stick the crank scraper down. It glued it self to the gasket pretty well though. Back to the drawing board I guess.

[Formulajones]

https://www.permatex.com/products/ga...-maker-7-5-oz/

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

https://www.permatex.com/products/ga...-maker-7-5-oz/

Funny, I was going to pick some of this up for the intake manifold reseal I need to do on my T/A. I hear it's pretty stout. I haven't been impressed with the grey stuff so far, blue is typically my go to.