Sudden oil loss, max wedge clone

[Fran Blacker]

Check for taper of the crush on old gasket. See if it's thicker near the bottom of ports.

 

[dvw]

The cylinder that plug came out of is pulling oil from somewhere. Could be a stuck oil ring, won't affect compression. Intake port leak in the head or intake manifold. Or intake gasket. Never had this issue with a Max Wedge. But I have seen the intake bolts come loose on cross ram Hemi's and suck oil up past the threads. Or worse yet the bolt falls out and sucks oil up the hole. One time a friends had the bolt stuck in the intake port. The other time with another friend the bolt made its way past the intake valve, not good.
Doug

 

[fmahannah]

Check the manifold fit without a gasket if you get that far. Maybe a regular 4 bll intake so you can see if there's a gap at the bottom of the runners. Having head work done, did they resurface them any that might have changed the fit? Block resurfacing will change the perfect fit of the intake also.

Good luck.

Heads did not need resurfacing, but since the intake is a true factory crossram it would not suprise me to find an issue there

 

[fmahannah]

Well compression test was good for that whole bank of cylinders. Could not see anything using the camera. Pulling the intake now. Not sure what I will find under there.

 

[fmahannah]

No obvious signs of intake gasket failure, no signs of oil on intake valves ....

 

[fmahannah]

Superperformance intake gaskets appear to be the type you install dry as they are non stick on both sides. If that is true then how do you hold haskets in place while installing the intake?
Max wedge intakes are a pain since bolts go inside the intake, and there are no pins etc to keep gaskets in place.

Any recommendations? Gaskacinch seems to always let the gaskets slide when the intake is set down.

Thanks

 

[blue69runner]

Spray my gaskets with copper coat.

 

[PRHeads]

No obvious signs of intake gasket failure, no signs of oil on intake valves ....

Since the spark plug was obviously soaked with oil contamination, and you not finding anything obvious in the intake runner/gasket area……..I’d say the problem lies elsewhere.
But I’d be on board with trying new gaskets and seeing how that plays out, since going deeper into the engine is a much bigger project, and you’d really like to rule out an intake gasket issue.

Did you try using the camera to look into the offending bore?

 

[khryslerkid]

Check the intake fit without gaskets!

 

[Fran Blacker]

I'd put something sticky on head side of new gasket.Would get a good helper to put intake back on.

 

[RemCharger]

I use weatherstrip adhesive as per the olden days

 

[fmahannah]

A closer look shows that I don't seem to be getting enough clamping force acoss the lower part of each intake port. Manifold bolts had been retorqued a couple times after installation and running some miles, and were not found to be loose at all.
This is a true max wedge intake, and when I first removed it to have heads done there were no washers on the intake manifold bolts. I had bought new ones from Mancini and they had washers
but I did not use them as they seemed to not fit the seats where the bolt heads ride.

Does anyone know for a true max wedge intake:

1. Should they have washers on the intake bolts
2. Correct torque sequence and torque
3. The heads are max wedge repros and to my knowledge have never been resurfaced. I had a shop put positive seals in them and he said they looked like new. So what might cause an incorrect mating angle between the heads and the intake and how can I check that?

Thanks. Want to make sure I do everything I can here to prevent having to remove the intake again.

 

[biomedtechguy]

A closer look shows that I don't seem to be getting enough clamping force acoss the lower part of each intake port.

So, are you pretty sure that is the cause of your oil loss?

 

[fmahannah]

So, are you pretty sure that is the cause of your oil loss?

Honestly no I am not sure. I would think if oil was being pulled past intake valve on #6 cylinder that was fouled that I would see oil on the back side of the valve but I don't see anything wet with oil there on any cylinders.
Two quarts of oil went somewhere and underside of engine is dry. Also oil went from clean to black in 140 miles. I wish there was a mechanic locally that would be willing to dig into this engine without me having to pull it
for them and deliver it. None of them can give up space in the bays while they work on it. At this point I am considering getting a stroker built with max wedge stuff on top and sitting this motor aside for now. It is a 413
bored to 426 or so I was told, 509 cam, wedge heads and intake.

 

[biomedtechguy]

509 cam

One of my favorite cams.
I just happened to have that one in my 440 6bbl and what a powerhouse with headers, the 6bbl intake, and a manual transmission.

 

[khryslerkid]

So what might cause an incorrect mating angle between the heads and the intake and how can I check that?

A milled block or the intake could have been milled at one time.

To check, have the heads and intake clean and set the intake on without a gasket. Check the gap. Look for how true it mates to the heads.

Already mentioned, look at the old gaskets to see if they were compressed more at the top compared to the bottom half.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

A milled block or the intake could have been milled at one time.

To check, have the heads and intake clean and set the intake on without a gasket. Check the gap. Look for how true it mates to the heads.

Already mentioned, look at the old gaskets to see if they were compressed more at the top compared to the bottom half.

To add to this use a feeler gauge around the edges, you should have equal contact all around.... Quite likely you don't... And correcting that means milling but then the intake sinks so next your milling the heads and/or block... Tough to get it 100% right....
Which is why I use the Hondabond 4 I linked above.... It has always sealed the intake 100%....

 

[fmahannah]

Does anyone know if max wedge intake bolts are supposed to have washers like what come in the mancini kit?

Mancini wedge intake bolt kit

 

[PRHeads]

I don’t know if they used washers from the factory or not, but it sure seems like using them is an invitation for dropping something down into the manifold.

 

[fmahannah]

I don’t know if they used washers from the factory or not, but it sure seems like using them is an invitation for dropping something down into the manifold.

I agree especially with wedge intake bolts going on the inside LOL. They are a pain to install and remove