Intake Manifold Gasket Recommendations

[s2ms]

Intake is back on and torqued. Just waiting for the RTV to cure so hope to be back on the road soon.

Thanks everyone for the help!

[shelbydoug]

Just when I thought I had everything? Now I need those lift handles!

[s2ms]

Just when I thought I had everything? Now I need those lift handles!

3 ft of 1"x1/8" steel stock at the local hardware store for $6. A little hammering, bending, and drilling.....voilà, intake lift handles! Each handle took 14" of stock.

[s2ms]

Now I have an issue. I ended up using the Mr. Gasket #213 gaskets, everything was looking great but...

Added coolant and let everything sit overnight to check for leaks, was hoping to finish up today.  There is now a dark discoloration in the gasket around all 4 water ports, photos below show the edges. This has to be coolant absorbing in from the thin inner gasket cutout surfaces. I did put a thin layer of RTV around the flat surfaces of each water port cutout, both sides of the gasket. The affected areas do not feel wet, or smell like coolant, and the gasket did not soften. I held a paper towel against those areas and do not see any moisture at all on the towel. No visible leaks anywhere. The torque had loosened up some overnight so re-torqued this morning.

Is this normal for these thicker #213 gaskets? Anyone else seen this? I'm temped to finish and see what effect engine heat has.

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated. I hate to pull it all apart and start over but will if needed.

Thanks,
Dave

[gt350hr]

   It is typical for a non steel inner gasket to require re torquing. I have had to do it several times over a week or more until they finally take a set.

[shelbydoug]

I am using the Mr.Gasket's and have no issues with them at all. I don't recall a color change but if it was to pink or purple I'd suspect that aliens were pulling on your chain for jollies.

You tighten that manifold with a 6" or so box wrench by hand and just snug them up.

25-30 ft-lbs is about what you can make it with that wrench.

The driver's side rear water port is the PITA  on that engine. If you aren't leaking coolant, forget about it and go have a Bud. It will help you reduce your paranoia for a little while.

[s2ms]

Thanks guys. I'll button it up and run through a few heat/re-torque cycles to see if that solves the issue.

If it does I'll celebrate with an IPA. If it doesn't I'll have another and ponder solutions and aliens...