grind valve covers or intake, oil leak

[coolcarz]

i have my 360, edy heads , weiand x-celerator, mopar valve covers thick cast ones.,, the valve covers hit the intake so getting them tight is not happening, i've tried two gaskets,works ok til you have to snug them after warmned up and then they hit intake on the runner part,.. blah blah,, something needs to be grinded the intake or the valve covers , what would you gents suggest? Im sure im not the only one thats ran into this situation, or maybe i am, sure feels like it .. lol ( gezzzz does anything fit right anymore?) lmao!! oil getting on my intake gaskets aint good, i've used cork and rubber gaskets, two together also, still compress too much.. i see some gaskets made by mopar and by mr gasket but some with metal frame so they dont compress so much would be nice , i think the mopar ones had something like that, pricey but if they work , well worth it ..imo AND do you guys use rtv only on the intake ends or the cork gaskets that comes with the set?? w/ a dab of rtv in the corners? thanks for all replies...
coolcarz

[rumblefish360]

`I have been told by a mech. that Fel-Pro gaskets are thick eniff. Which ones I don't know. I mostly see the covers grounded.

[ohioDemon]

i had the same problem. i marked where they were hitting and took a die grinder to both the valve covers and the intake manifold.
just take your time and everything will work out. i had a couple of high spots on mine.

[bbeckwith]

or at least they can get double wide gaskets that I've used for the last year and a half with no leaking, and that's after pulling the valve covers numerous times! I believe they were FelPro's but it's been a while and I aint getting any younger. If you like, I can inquire if those gaskets are still available. I have a 340, with the Edy Air Gap and MP cast valve covers and have no clearance problem, with no grinding done. Lemme know and I'll check for you.

[lgorton]

I ground my MP cast covers to fit with the action plus intake. if you are careful with your die-grinder you shouldnt have to grind into the gasket surface.it took me about an hour to do the first one(grind a little ,check,grind a little,check) and about 20 minutes to do the second....good luck

[racintracy]

Wow. I had the same problem about a year ago when I rebuilt a 360 with these style valve covers and X heads and an old torker intake. I had never ran into this before and it worried me that maybe the heads had been milled a bunch. Seeing this post eases my mind on that. I also marked the covers and used a die grinder to notch out the interfering area. I have also heard of double thick gaskets but never seen any.

[dwc43]

It's a quite common problem. Just grind a little off the covers and be done with it. I've run into several of these that I had to fix over the years.

[coolcarz]

Cool I feel better now, I was like racintracy, a little worried, hehe, but all better now.... and yes they do have those dbl gaskets, i have seen them at the racing parts store i go to, they are 2 gaskets glued together, I thought they were one piece, but the ones i saw were 2 glued, and glued well too i may ad.. they were , $35.00 , i'll do the grinding now that my brotha mopar friends helped me confirm the fix,,,,, once again,.... thank you for all the responses so far and any others to follow..

coolcarz
71 ply duster 340 thanks you too!!

[aspenextreme]

i had the same problem on a 360 with j heads and an performer rpm air gap intake. i just siliconed 2 gaskets(cork) together. not a lick of problems after that.

[dwc43]

Mopar makes these grey gaskets for racing that have a metal insert in them that makes them reusable and they just don't leak. These are real thick and will make most covers clear the intakes too.