Well, my HEMI is down to repair the many problems left me by the first shop that did the work. While waiting on Diamond to produce the new pistons, I am working on the heads.
I have had problems sealing the intake as many of you have. So I have decided to “O” ring them with Viton o ring material.
Ideal gasket thickness is .031 for port alignment. I am using .093 so that I can ball mill the receiver groove deep enough to hold 2/3 of the O ring and hopefully have the correct height for port alignment.
Have any of you done this? Customer will do the machine work (I sell machine tools for a living) and write a C.N.C. program.
I understand that this is a common practice in Top Fuel and Alchohol. What has been your experience with replacing gaskets with “O” rings?

I did the blower to intake.It will still push some fuel out the back.
What intake manifold?That would require alotta rubber!

Look at FHO's website. They do that. Might give you some ideas. I would want to do something standard. And use off-the-shelf O-rings.

http://forhemisonly.com/

Tim did the heads on my 528. It worked well.

I’m using a MP “marine intake and have always used silicone on the ends, no leaks

Do not try to maintain the spacing by elevating the manifold with an incorrect o ring recever groove. You will distort or crack the manifold.
Get the intake to fit flush with no gaskets, then cut the grooves with the dimensions in the document. Static o ring groove.

I haven't had any issues sealing mine up w/ the Superformance gaskets, but I'd love to go with O-rings for the ease of installation. Especially w/ larger than stock ports that require trimming gaskets to fit.
My concern is that my intake manifold has been port matched w/ a standard .060" thick gasket.

Anyone know what FHO charges to do this?

I assembled a blown Hemi motor that had the intake O ringed to start with, I used the stock end cork gaskets to seal the ends with silicone, that worked very well.
The O ring was probably no where near as thick as your wanting to use though, maybe .030 to .045 or so.
IHThs

My intake matches the ports with a .032” Gasket. My thought is to have 2/3 of the “O” ring in the groove. So I am looking at .093” material. This should leave about .032 for the intake to seal on.

Standard o ring cross sectional area is listed in the chart I posted on the far left. My suggestion to you if you are not willing to correct the manifold/ head contact alignment, is to use the chart dimensions for standard o ring sizes and groove depth/ width. Then use the gaskets that you have been using to keep the manifold alignment correct. The o rings will sit on the gasket and fill any void that the gasket can’t.
If you go ahead with your plan, you will create more problems than you solve. The manifold floating on rubber will need constant maintenance/ attention. The manifold must be “clamped” to the head.

FHO just finished my heads this week. $6575 for the heads and the o-ring was $300 with 40% discount. I would guess that if send your heads in for o-ringing then you would pay the $500

[img]https://i.imgur.com/KOUuSWs.jpg?3[/img]

Pretty. I was wondering, can they do that to any head or do they get Stage V's and leave extra meat in the intake face?

These are Stage V heads and apparently that's all Tim uses. I would imagine he can do other heads.

I had no problems when Tim did mine. However I think if any surface is not perfectly square with the other surfaces you will have more problems than you did with gaskets.

Those aren't standard street heads, wonder if he can do standard heads?

I appreciate the suggestions, that is why I posted. Unfortunately I can’t read the chart. As for alignment, I used precious wire of various diameters. At .032” all wires between the intake and head surface were in contact, (alignment)? And the ports matched.
Am I missing something?
Also, I used Superformance gaskets and upon removing the manifold I found no evidence of oil leaking through into the intake ports. I am simply doing this as a precaution.

You said in your OP that you are having problems with the intake leaking.

True, The first gaskets I used were Felpro. They allowed oil to “weep” THROUGH the gasket. I went to Superformance. Still had oil in the intake ports. Out of desperation, I used Hondabond sealer and more Superformance gaskets. THAT stopped the leak. However, when I removed the intake this time, I thought I would never get it off.
That is why I want a permanent fix. This is not an isolated problem. HEMI intake leaks are not an uncommon problem. I have read several posts on this forum about this problem. Once it happens, you worry if the intake is sealed. I pulled the carbs and using a bore scope, checked the ports for oil several times. I don’t want to worry about it this go round.

If the intake gasket is leaking enough to see it in the port,after removal you should be able to determine where is was leaking.

As said it is critical to have the surfaces fit perfect for that leak free surface!

Everything you wanted to know about O-rings but were afraid to ask. I used the Parker handbook for 30+ years and had good results with their gland designs. I would use the face seal groove dimensions on page 4-18.

https://www.parker.com/literature/O-Ring%20Division%20Literature/ORD%205700.pdf