So what's the easeist war to check an intake manifold for warpage? Do I just take a straight edge and lay it across and check for gaps? Is there a better way?

John

That is the way I check for warpage on all the stuff that I do at work and home. I work in a machine shop.

Trevor: Ok what's that Black Cylinder with the Yellow Cap on it next to the Tach.

I've used Plumbers Putty after spraying the mating surfaces with WD40 or Rust Check Red. Place the Block to Intake Gaskets in and place and four 1" wide spacers = thickness of Intake gasket just in from the 4 corners of the intake. Run 2 beads of Plumbers Putty (say 3/8 thick) the full length of the cylinder head along the roof and floor of the ports. Lightly torque the intake in place and remove it. Observe putty thickness and mating of port alignment. This is a great way to port match the intake runners as well.

Trevor: Ok what's that Black Cylinder with the Yellow Cap on it next to the Tach.


Shift light......

Yes: David is right it is my shift light. It is a proform shift light and it is dead on. :)

It’s better to check the angle of the intake manifold against the heads without any intake manifold gaskets in place. Without the gaskets the intake will sit lower but the manifold/head angles won’t change and it’s easier to see if there is a problem without the gaskets in the way. A few years ago I got a used aluminum intake manifold from ebay. When I set it on the engine without the gaskets it was easy to see that it was warped.

I needed another intake so I bought a new Edelbrock and set it on the engine without any gaskets. The angle of the new intake manifold matched the angle of the heads perfectly.

Felpro makes an aluminum gauge that checks the angle of the installed heads on one side and the angle of the intake on the other. They cost about $100. I had a local machine shop angle jill my intake to sit perfect when I was chasing a vacuumn leak.

A machinist's straightedge isn't too much $. I found my intake was .010" warped in a few places and had it machined. This was after 15 years use.

Why not run it over to your machine shop of choice and let'em have a look... If it needs machining, it's right there... Can't cost too much, but, if you do put a warped intake on, it'll cost you time, gaskets, and maybe an oil change or 2 in order to get the water/anti-freeze out of the engine all the while hoping no damage was done re. bearings/rings with the oil water/anti-freeze mix... Pay a couple of bucks and it is a done deal!!! T.

Thanks fellas, I still have to take it off before I check it. Oh what fun!

John

This is why I am kinda leanin' to the machine shop checking the peice... How'd ya like to take it off, put it back on with same problem, take it off again to have it machined a mite, then put it back on with everything okay.... Possibly gonna cost yah 3 intake sets and oil and most of all frustration /time and money if you missed something in the first teardown... Let the shop check it and take it from there... One of my friends did this with a '79 14007378 alum 'Vette/Camaro intake and he was not happy... Do it once /// dats it dats all.. Ted