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318 intake gaskets - am I the idiot?

Fish Stix

Fish Stix

New member
Hi guys - a long while ago I did head work on my 1980-era 318's, and put the cross-over restrictor plates in only one of the installs. Now, in the hot weather, the engine without the restrictor plates has been acting up hen hot, so I figured it's time to put new gaskets with the restrictor plates in - making it match the other engine (which is the same age and works perfectly). perfect timing now that summer is going to an end.

dummy_gap.jpg gap.jpg

The felpro gasket set is the same as the other engine, and all appears correct, except as in the images, the very top part of the head's center port is visible and is open. It seems that my head isn't tall enough to cover to top of that center port, but it also doesn't matter because the gasket wouldn't seal it either.

So I'm looking to you guys as to what to do next - do I have the wrong intake and gasket set for this head? Can I block off the gap area with some metal, somehow, or does it simply not matter.

Thanks as always
Fish Stix III
 
Does it match the other engine? Gasket should cover small center passage, outer opening for heat dissipation.
 
That's the news I was looking for - about being open at the top for heat dissipation. Now, all engines, heads, gaskets and intakes match. The big thing was the restrictor plates were missing on the port engine - allowing lots of heat into the crossover of the intake manifold. This caused the port engine to vaporlock / die after 30 minute of high RPM run. At that point, any liquid that touched the intake manifold evaporated instantly. Now with the plates in, I'm hoping it doesn't die anymore...

Thanks for the sanity check!
Brooks
 
This passage is only used for the old dashpot style choke as far as I know. My engines have electric chokes and work just fine with the open gap you are concerned about. The Fel-pro gaskets cover the center portion of this passage where the actual exhaust passes through. I would think having the gap open would allow the carburetor to run cooler and reduce the possibility gas boiling after a run.​
 
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