Hey guys, isn't that a mismatch on the intake versus the heads?

Does it smoke right after decelleration, but clear up after driving steady for a few minutes?

 

I don't know if it's a mismatch or not. Whether it is or not, Krewat might be on to something. When installing intake on heads for first time always have to check intake fit with a BHJ fixture (if you got one) or hillbilly method is to check fit by laying wax string on the heads and then dry fitting the intake. (Probably find a youtube). Doesn't hurt to check angles with some type of protractor ...should be around 135 degrees.

Broken push rod? At the least verify the rods aren't rubbing the intake anywhere in their full range of motion...it's easy to miss.

 

Probably not a mismatch. While he didn't elaborate, I'm assuming he's referring to an iron intake. The heads and the intake would both be a low-riser port.

While there could be an intake to head interface issue, that normally would occur where the heads were heavily cut. Same for the intake. You most often see this with aftermarket intakes. But that's not universal. It also could be using the wrong intake gasket, such as a medium riser gasket on a low riser port. And you can't overlook intake manifold alignment. These are not simple intakes to install. They can be installed out of alignment, which causes pushrod rubbing and gasket leaks. What caused the bent pushrod?

And It may have more to do with the intake gasket type being used. When you pulled the intake, was there any damage to the gaskets? The Felpro Print-o-seals have a very bad reputation for distorting in use and leaking. I did two sets before going to a traditional fiber gasket.

 

It is. Those heads have medium riser style ports and the intake has taller low riser ports. Shouldn't be a problem as far as leaks go, unless he used the shorter gaskets meant for the heads, if there are such gaskets made. He may not have retorqued the bolts several times until the gaskets fully compressed.

 

Those heads had the shorter medium riser style port. But you could be onto something with the Felpro POS (pun intended) gaskets

 

 

Did you use the Print-O-Seal gaskets or the Permatorque Blue ? The Print-O-Seal's are just as the abbreviation suggests: P.O.S.

 

The intake ports are deeper than the head ports on the 74 heads. If you used a gasket that fit the heads and not the intake, then that could be a problem. Been awhile since I messed with an FE so I'm not sure if they make two different sized port gaskets.

 

Yes, they make gaskets specifically for these head styles: The 427 heads: SOHC, Tunnel Port, High Riser, Medium Riser, and Low Riser. There is also a gasket for the 428CJ. And of course, the passenger car port -which, as was pointed out is not a low riser- is similar to a low riser, but has different port dimensions and is by far the most common port.

 

CJ--Lowriser = same port. The passenger car port you mention is your own invention. I've never heard of it. This port started with the C8AE-H heads and continued with the D2TE heads (which is what the OP has) and it's more akin to the Medium riser port than the Lowriser which had a deeper bottom portion, Ford filled in the useless portion of the Lowriser port in which on some of them there was a sharp ski jump in the floor on certain port numbers (been awhile since I looked at these heads) which was the wasted space in the port floor, when they designed the Medium riser heads. The MR heads are slightly wider than the port in the C8/D2 head, but they're pretty close to the same height as the MR heads and the same elevation above the deck, which is why they're more akin to the MR ports than the lowriser.

 

Most all of the gaskets sets now have the low riser intake gasket, it will seal low riser, medium riser, CJ heads and intakes.
High riser, tunnel port and SOHC each have their own special gaskets.

Never really had a problem getting intakes to seal on FE engines no matter what gasket I used, but I have always applied a thin coat of sealer (RTV, High Tack, Copper Coat) to the gasket as well.
I've never seen a intake out of alignment so bad that it would cause the push rods to rub

 

More of a problem with aftermarket aluminum intakes due to their smaller rod tunnels. Also can be an issue with higher lift cams, bigger diameter pushrods, and such.

A broken pushrod sure stirs the imagination on the how it happened and what else got beat up.

 

Agree! Some aftermarket intakes have smaller push rod tunnels, and larger push rods may require additional clearance, but neither of those is caused from an alignment issue.
I am also wondering what caused the broken push rod.