I have an older rebuilt 302 engine that has been bored 30 over ,it was originally a carburated (naturally aspirated) engine,,, when I installed the engine in my 89 bronco I installed the fuel injection setup (lower manifold and upper manifold/ plenum assy) on it,,,,here is the question the manifold didn't sem to mate up exactly so I doubled up on gasket and heavy on permatex,,,is there. A difference in the angle the manifold meet the heads on carburated(older) and fuel injected (later model)? I am almost certain I have a vacuum leak there,,, And if so what's my solution? I can really use some direction from you guys here as to what's my next move, without spending a ton of money',,,,thanks in advance guys

 

shouldn't be, was the heads or block milled when it was rebuilt?

 

When I got the engine it had already been rebuilt and had about 1000. Miles on it,,, the original carburetor and intake manifold were bolted to it,,, the reason I changed it over was because 89 was already harnessed and ECM'd for fuel injection so I just put my original fuel injection manifolds and the rest on

 

ok, I forgot to ask this, but in what way does it not quite line up? if the block/heads were milled, the intake will seem to be too wide and sit too high on the engine. if thats how they are misaligned, you would need to have the intake milled to match.

 

No it definitely appears that the angle on the intake side of the head is a different angle than the lower intake manifolds surface and not just sitting higher because of milling,,, if it was a milling issue the angle would be the same but the manifold would sit high and not seat if I understand what you are saying, that doesn't seem to be the case for me

 

its a long shot but I guess its possible that they might be angle milled. about the only way that those angles would be different. why somebody would do it to an engine that wasn't meant for econo class racing sure beats me though. maybe hit the old intake with a protractor and compare it to another? I really hope that someone else will chime in and say if there is something else it could be, cause thats all i can think of.

 

Me being the genius that I am , I tossed the original manifold once I decided to go with the injection setup

 

that sucks. maybe check the angle of the heads intake surface vs. the block, and then check the intake. record the angles and take the intake to your machinist.

 

Never heard of any problems with the angle . Like it was mentioned , maybe someone read too many hot rod books and had the heads angle milled .

Did the bolts seem to go straight down or at an angle when you installed them . I would stop by the hardware store and buy a 12" piece of 5/16 all thread , remove one bolt and hand thread in the all thread to see if it sticks straight up and down or at an angle .

I would bet it is straight and just an optical illusion.

When you reinstall the intake when you change gaskets , I would use four studs to help align everything , then use nuts to hold the intake down .

Did you have any problems with the cork gaskets squishing out ?