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I know this has been posted on before but before I shoot the right stuff and try to get my intake back on can anyone tell me a little about the valley pan and the end seals ? I was gonna throw them out but then I test fit the valley pan and was thinking about how it all is going to go together. Was gonna shoot the right stuff black on China walls front and back and up the sides a little let it tack up then install valley pan and then add some more right stuff black on top of valley pan on the walls and up the side then set intake down on top of pan. I have the fel pro valley pan and was gonna use the grey rtv provided lightly around the intake ports top and bottom of valley pan. Any advice or links to this job would be appreciated. Truck needs to get back running in case my landlords daughter comes back trying to give me a 60 day notice to move so she can move into my place !! Joy !!
I've had better luck with TRS than end seals, but both work if done properly. you don't need to let it tack just go for it. when you're done it doesn't hurt to run your finger over the end seal area and smooth up the TRS, if you had and thin spots this fills them and creates a better seal.
You can use TRS or any silicone around water ports but not intake ports , they're not fuel resistant enough. around intake ports I use Permatex #1 or #2. Hylomar is for this purpose as well.
I've had mine since 1986, it still had the cast iron OEM intake then. I replaced it soon afterward with a Performer 400 aluminum intake, and have had the heads off once since ... in the early '90s. Factory only used the valley pan and end seals on my 351M, I used only a new valley pan and end seals under it both times. I did put some RTV at the corners ... sparingly ... as I didn't want gobs of excess RTV in my oil. It is my custom to paint valley pans with a few coats of high heat Aluminum engine enamel and let that dry. I never used side gaskets or used any extra sealant around the ports. Those corrugations in the pan around the intake ports are compressed to fill voids upon torquing.
A valley pan is a "one time use" - reliable type gasket. If heads are milled and/or the deck is cut, then the valley pan will sit lower and the end seals might squeeze out, so then one might be better off to use a different end seal method (RTV, etc).
Thank you everyone. Got valley pan installed ended up ditching the end seals as I lost one so just used the the right stuff.hardest part I think was just lugging that heavy sob in place. Gonna buy a 400 motor someday soon and switch to aluminum intake so this will be the last time I do this. Hopefully it don’t leak oil immediately. Time to button up the front of this engine gotta drop the oil pan to do timing cover correctly don’t wanna shoot a bunch of rtv into my oil trying to seal that thing. My next question would be water pump bolts unfortunately I didn’t realize the sizes as I pulled them out anyone got a diagram with the different sizes and location on this 351m ?read about people having leaks by messing that up !