I just bought an Edelbrock F4B intake manifold for my 302. Is there a preferred gasket set that works best with this manifold? I'm not that familiar with American iron these days and I was surprised to learn how many different gasket sets are out there for this engine. As best I can tell it is an '84 truck block. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Which gasket set for my F4B?
- Thread starter ramseyt
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TigerBlue
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Port matching?
Port sizes and shapes are what is critical; to help you choose the best gasket between manifold and head. You need to compare them and test the gasket against each. You will see if the port size/shape is nearly the same. Truck heads might have smaller ports than GT Mustang heads. do you have the manifold off yet? You need to have at least one set of left and right gaskets and compare the fit to both manifold and head. This can be your old gasket and it presumably matches the head?
Of all the gasket options there are none that will correct a mismatch of the ports in the heads relative to the manifold. That takes machining or accept that performance might be less than if they are matched.
Rick
Port sizes and shapes are what is critical; to help you choose the best gasket between manifold and head. You need to compare them and test the gasket against each. You will see if the port size/shape is nearly the same. Truck heads might have smaller ports than GT Mustang heads. do you have the manifold off yet? You need to have at least one set of left and right gaskets and compare the fit to both manifold and head. This can be your old gasket and it presumably matches the head?
Of all the gasket options there are none that will correct a mismatch of the ports in the heads relative to the manifold. That takes machining or accept that performance might be less than if they are matched.
Rick
It's understandable that the port matching would be necessary
The seller had this engine built by a well known local builder. He became ill shortly after and put the car in storage until I found it 12 years later. He told me that my engine was built to approx 300 hp. Neither he nor the builder could remember any details about the engine build process. I degreed the cam and found it to be 222°/234° @ .050" and .450"/.470" total lift. It runs pretty strong with the headers and 2-1/4" exhaust. I have a 600 cfm 4160 Holley but it still has the stock intake. I thought I would put the period correct F4B intake on and surely be able to see some improvement. My hope was to collect the gaskets and do the swap on a rainy day. It's understandable that the port matching would be necessary for maximum results but I'm not willing to pull the heads off of that new engine at this point. I suspect the heads are stock with some valve/port modifications.
The seller had this engine built by a well known local builder. He became ill shortly after and put the car in storage until I found it 12 years later. He told me that my engine was built to approx 300 hp. Neither he nor the builder could remember any details about the engine build process. I degreed the cam and found it to be 222°/234° @ .050" and .450"/.470" total lift. It runs pretty strong with the headers and 2-1/4" exhaust. I have a 600 cfm 4160 Holley but it still has the stock intake. I thought I would put the period correct F4B intake on and surely be able to see some improvement. My hope was to collect the gaskets and do the swap on a rainy day. It's understandable that the port matching would be necessary for maximum results but I'm not willing to pull the heads off of that new engine at this point. I suspect the heads are stock with some valve/port modifications.
Yep, those FelPro "high performance" gaskets (Fel-Pro #1262) recommended by AFR are CRAP! They will fail an put water into the lifter valley. They are made for racing applications were the engine is torn apart often. I had two sets fail.
I used Edelbrock #7219 gasket this last time and so far, all is well.
Last edited:
cadreamn67
Platinum Forum Member
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My understanding is that the F4B is still a pretty good design by today's standards. However, the RPM range supposedly does top out at about 5500, however such things are spec-ed.
Are you familiar with Tim Ronak's great tech article on www.tigersunited.com about Building a 350 Lunati? Fabulous detail I relied upon extensively in my 347 project. He details and discusses an intake manifold modification that should help you get an additional 500 rpm up to the 6000 level. As long as you have the manifold off, you might seriously consider making the mod to your F4B.
A suggestion regarding gaskets. Measure how high and wide the head ports are. On Summit Racing's web site you can narrow your search down by those parameters and hopefully get a close match.
FWIW, my aftermarket head's ports are 1.10 inches wide and 1.975 inches tall. I found a Victor Reinz gasket set that is an almost perfect match to that. I ended up using a Nibbler tool from my local electronics parts store to enlarge the gasket ports at the top by about 1/16 inch. The gasket set part number is MS15202x and I found it at a local Carquest store. I have no idea how that would work with your heads and the F4B, but if your heads have that configuration, it might be something to consider.
As for port matching, you might see if the F4B port pattern is smaller than the head pattern. Make a heavy poster board "gasket" based on the F4B and overlay it over the head. If the F4B's pattern is smaller all around, you could just enlarge the manifold ports accordingly. That is what I ended up doing with my aftermarket heads and a different manifold, belatedly after the heads were installed. I had been in a rush to get the motor put together at the time and then had to put things on hold for a while...
Hope some of that helps.
Gene
Are you familiar with Tim Ronak's great tech article on www.tigersunited.com about Building a 350 Lunati? Fabulous detail I relied upon extensively in my 347 project. He details and discusses an intake manifold modification that should help you get an additional 500 rpm up to the 6000 level. As long as you have the manifold off, you might seriously consider making the mod to your F4B.
A suggestion regarding gaskets. Measure how high and wide the head ports are. On Summit Racing's web site you can narrow your search down by those parameters and hopefully get a close match.
FWIW, my aftermarket head's ports are 1.10 inches wide and 1.975 inches tall. I found a Victor Reinz gasket set that is an almost perfect match to that. I ended up using a Nibbler tool from my local electronics parts store to enlarge the gasket ports at the top by about 1/16 inch. The gasket set part number is MS15202x and I found it at a local Carquest store. I have no idea how that would work with your heads and the F4B, but if your heads have that configuration, it might be something to consider.
As for port matching, you might see if the F4B port pattern is smaller than the head pattern. Make a heavy poster board "gasket" based on the F4B and overlay it over the head. If the F4B's pattern is smaller all around, you could just enlarge the manifold ports accordingly. That is what I ended up doing with my aftermarket heads and a different manifold, belatedly after the heads were installed. I had been in a rush to get the motor put together at the time and then had to put things on hold for a while...
Hope some of that helps.
Gene
My manifold is off!
Thanks guys, for your comments, photos, and the reference to the great reading material! I'm surprised to see that my ports in the head are 1/8"-3/16" larger than those of my F4B. I don't know how to tell what my heads are off of. The block # is EOAF D3C. I did some research a while back and as best I can tell it came from an '84 truck. The F4B ports appear to be flashed inward a little and so at minimum I can straighten them up while increasing the size more toward that of the heads.
Thanks guys, for your comments, photos, and the reference to the great reading material! I'm surprised to see that my ports in the head are 1/8"-3/16" larger than those of my F4B. I don't know how to tell what my heads are off of. The block # is EOAF D3C. I did some research a while back and as best I can tell it came from an '84 truck. The F4B ports appear to be flashed inward a little and so at minimum I can straighten them up while increasing the size more toward that of the heads.