Well, I hope everyone else is having a great Labor Day weekend, mine is a bust. Just to review, I discovered that I had oil wicking THROUGH my paper composition intake gaskets. Sealed to both intake and head with silicone but POURING THROUGH the paper! So I installed .060 Superformance gaskets dry except for the end rails as instructed. Result, oil pouring AROUND the gasket even with clear imprint showing good compression into the gasket! Over a quart in 70 miles! That was two weekends ago. I started talking to old time engine builders, racers etc. First comment, NO ONE runs dry intake gaskets with high rpm or large cubic inch, (over 500) engines. A good friend and former HEMI super stock racer agreed to help if I would listen to him. No one else offered to step foot in the garage so I took him up on his offer.
He used .060 and .090 wire to space the manifold up and check for matching intake/manifold angles (also double checked with angle finder). This also showed a little better port alignment at .090. He suggested that .090 would also allow more gasket crush/bite. Next he told me to stud the intake. That way all the torque would be crushing the gasket vs. being used to thread into the heads.
Lastly, he told me to buy "Honda Bond" to use as a sealer. It is now Thursday night, long weekend, and the two largest car shows of the year coming up back to back. The second one requires a drive of almost three hundred miles round trip. I started ordering parts Red Label. I know better, something always goes wrong when it JUST HAS TO GET HERE BY FRIDAY!
In order to make up .090", I had to order two sets of Superformance gaskets, one 030 and one 060. Then studs, McMaster Car was the only place I could find that had 1/4-20 studs 3-1/2" long with 1" thread on either end. That was discovered on Friday so I had a "Saturday" next day air on those! all told, over $135 just on shipping!
Saturday morning was spent at the track watching the Pro Mod race. Several of the racers are friends. One runs an all aluminum 8-71 blown HEMI. I talked to ALL of them, they confirmed that they had to use either 3M weatherstrip adhesive or "import silicone" on the intake gaskets or they would have to pick them out of the exhaust ports! So I go home and get started waiting for my SS buddy to arrive. First I install my studs with a drop of Blue Locktight to "refusal" (as deep as they would go as per instructions). My buddie arrives and final inspects everything, one more wipe down with laquer thinner and he opens the gaskets on a clean work bench,,,,,,one is clearly market 060 with part#, the other is clearly marked 030 with DIFFERENT part#, and ALL FOUR GASKETS MEASURE 030"!!!!! CHECKED WITH A MICROMETER!!!!!!! I AM TOTALLY SCREWED!!!!!!!