I like to set the rotor in an orientation that is easy to remember like pointing it to the front of the motor, you can then mark the dist housing and the block to get the housing lined back up. As long as the engine is not rotated or the pump drive shaft rotated you should be able to stab back into place where it was. Regardless check the timing to confirm all is well when you are done.

 

Ok guys. Pulled the intake this afternoon. Not only was the RH gasket broken above cylinder #3, it was also broken above cylinder #6. Not sure how this happens...they are steel core gaskets...I can't tear them by hand, no matter how hard I try. The RH gasket was definitely out of place though...you can see the imprint of the intake in the bottom gasket below...not only was it broken, but it just barely covered the port opening. Bugger.

Interesting to note though...the gaskets were installed backwards. Does that matter? The side of the gaskets that say "Head Side" were facing the intake. They look like they're symetrical, but, the one difference I do see is that the gaskets stuck like glue to the cylinder heads, and didn't stick at all to the intake.

I assume they would have broken when the intake was being torqued down?

 

Yea, those are the ones. Funny you found em , when I looked last night they never came up. Those gaskets can fail when there's not enough metal behind them to support it. Pull a good healthy vacuum on them and they'll get sucked into the port. Had that happen even with the 1262's, my son wound my 331 up to 6500-7 grand and let off the pedal in 2nd gear, then "zoop" the gasket top on one cylinder got sucked into the port.

 

I called Fel-Pro tech support this morning and as soon as I told him what intake and heads I was running he said that the gaskets I had would not work at all. He said that the MS-90361 gaskets are specifically for stock installations with cast iron heads and cast iron intake manifolds. He said that aluminum intakes flex and cannot put enough equal pressure on these gaskets to crush the perforated steel cores. The result is vacuum leaks all over the place.
The fact that they were installed backwards probably wasn't that big a deal all things considered. I have to own this one as I am the one that supplied the gaskets to the shop that built my engine. I had purchased them previously when the intent was more of a stock overhaul, and didn't think much of them after the fact. Oh well.

He recommended the 1250 gaskets or if I wanted to be really fancy the 1250S3 gaskets. He said the S3 versions are more for boosted applications or applications with really high vacuum, but that I could use them fine enough.

In any case, I'll get some new gaskets on order tomorrow. Thanks again for all your help gentlemen.

 

Well that goes to show you how much their tech guy knows. Go to Summit Racing and these gaskets are the stock O.E gaskets from the mid 80's to the end of production in the 5.0 and 5.8 motors, which ALL had aluminum intakes and iron heads. What they don't fit is the GT40 heads. I've used these gaskets myself on both engines and they seal just fine with E7 heads. I've used the GT40 gaskets too, which have the same composition on the 5.8 in my 96 E150 van (aluminum intake with GT40 heads)

 

Well that's interesting. JEG's lists the same gaskets as fitting 1977-1985 302, and 1975-1991 351.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Fel-Pro/375/MS-90361/10002/-1

Good point though...because even the carbed Mustang 5.0 had aluminum intake manifolds, at least for a couple years prior to going EFI.

 

Your problem was there was no "meat" at the top of the port for the intake to compress to start with.(look at your pictures) And just in case you didn't, when you go back with the new set, go over the torque sequence as many times as it takes to fully compress the gaskets with the torque wrench. Otherwise you could end up with another gasket failure.

 

Yes, of course. All understood. They will be installed correctly and leak free when I'm done with them.

One more question before I forget...same topic sort of, but different spot. While I'm ordering up some new gaskets, do you guys have a recommendation for carburetor gaskets? Or just whatever? IN an effort to be completely vacuum leak free here, I want to use the best stuff I can get where applicable.

 

What has worked for me was to follow the torquing sequences in most manuals (Chilton or Haynes) but after completing the third sequence, go through all the bolts again and again until they all stabilize on the last torque setting. I've always found them to be loose after the first round of torquing to the final sequence. Then after running the engine for a few hours, do it again.

Also, use silicone sealant in place of the cork end seals, and put an extra dollop in the corners where the head, intake, and ends seals meet. I also always put a smear of silicone sealant around the water passages. You will note that on a 302, there is a bolt on each end, but the first inboard bolt is past the first intake port, so it is the greatest distance between two fasteners, and they are around two big holes. So their clamping forces are spread over the greatest area, thus reducing their clamping pressure to about half of the other areas. Applying sealant around the coolant passages helps to seal that wall between the passage and that first port.

 

I use the charcoal grey Felpro gaskets under the carbs (yea that's right plural 3x2) As with what someone else posted, I use long carb studs in the 4 middle holes between the center holes and the outer holes to located the intake. Then once it's in place I swap these out for bolts then torque all.

 

So basically the same ones as from Ford Performance is what they were calling for..

 

Hey Baddad,
The gaskets seemed to fit the heads fine...the ports in these heads are only 1.85 x 1.15, so any of the SBF gaskets with 2.00 x 1.20 openings should have fit them OK I thought? Well, they looked like they fit OK before I peeled them off the head. If it wasn't an issue with the gaskets themselves then it just looks like a poor installation job. Oh well. I can't cry over spilled milk...just need to get some new parts and get her all sealed back up.

I'll report back once I get her all fired up again.

 

I just wanted to come back and report what I have done to my little 302. As you know from above, I found a couple vacuum leaks.

New Fel-Pro 1250 intake gaskets.
New 1" aluminum carb spacer with new gaskets (and all surfaces checked for flatness)
New DSII distributor from Parkland Performance set up for 15 deg base and 17 advance.
New Ford Motorcraft DSII ignition module
New plugs, 8mm wires, fuel filter, etc.
Adjusted throttle plates as they were a little out of whack.
Best vacuum achieved at idle was 18.5", and once I finished setting everything up, I now have 17.5" vacuum
Cruising down the road at light throttle, AFR is 14.5-14.7, which seems to be pretty good.

The engine is running much better now, especially in the lower RPM's between 1500-2000 RPM. Much better throttle response on the lower end.
Hot idle wants to be in the 750-800 range. Anything lower than that, and it just doesn't seem to run the best.

So the vibration that I posted about originally is mostly gone now, at least the low RPM vibration, which was probably a miss. There still seems like there's a tiny bit of vibration in it when I rev it up to 2500 RPM, but I don't think it is anything like it was before. This stuff is hard to measure...so all I can say is that while it isn't perfect, it feels much better than it was. I don't think there's much else I can do without disassembling stuff, and that isn't going to happen so it is what it is. It really is working very well, and any further effort would probably be chasing a ghost.

Thanks for all your help gentlemen. It was appreciated.

I have some other things I'd like to try that I'll need some advice on, so maybe I'll start another thread for that later. Basically, I want to try a Summit M2008 500CFM carb instead of the Holley, but it's going to mean relocating my coil and fuel line and I need to figure out the best way to do that.

Cheers,
Rem