Frustration

[B3vedere267]

I am wanting to vent and possibly talked off the ledge. I recently installed a cam and lifters in my 1967 Belvedere II. Bought the Jegs version of the air gap manifold. Get everything ready, painted and go to install. The holes don’t line up. Tried everything, can’t get them to go.

This project has been fighting me the whole way. I am pretty close to calling it a day and selling it. I am super frustrated.

Thanks for letting me vent. If you are interested in a 1967 Belvedere II let me know. ;)

 

[1 Wild R/T]

What do you mean by won't line up? Bolt holes are lower in the heads than the manifold? Will the bolts start without a gasket?

BTW cool looking 67.... Chill, Relax, take a day off & have a beer..

 

[tonysrt]

What engine are you talking about? B engine could be a B engine manifold trying to fit on a RB engine or other way around.

 

[B3vedere267]

What do you mean by won't line up? Bolt holes are lower in the heads than the manifold? Will the bolts start without a gasket?

BTW cool looking 67.... Chill, Relax, take a day off & have a beer..

I believe they would fit without a gasket. Is there a thinner gasket than the fel pro? I did not use the cork front and rear gaskets.

 

[70chall440]

Yeah something is wrong here, while its possible the intake was made incorrectly thats probably very low on the list of possibilities. What engine, heads, has the deck and/or heads been milled?

 

[70chall440]

Sounds like the deck and/or heads have been cut....

 

[Kern Dog]

If you posted just to blow off steam, I understand. If you want help, you'll need to give a LOT more information.
One idea....
If the engine is an early 273, they used a unique bolt pattern and angle to the heads and intake. They are not like the 1966 and later engines from what I recall.

 

[Runner 68]

What do you mean by won't line up? Bolt holes are lower in the heads than the manifold? Will the bolts start without a gasket?

BTW cool looking 67.... Chill, Relax, take a day off & have a beer..

Wild is correct. Chillax and come back with a fresh attitude.
My bane is the driver side of the car. Every time I need to do something to the driver side it's a total nightmare. Passenger side, smooth as silk. I have learned that I tend to psych myself out.
As Yogi said, "90% mental, the other half is physical".

I also agree, cool 67.

 

[khryslerkid]

Maybe you're not holding your mouth right.

Intake manifold bolts aren't always that easy to get started, especially on a big block using the valley pan. I like to partially start them corner to corner then in the middle. Criss cross the tightening process. If you just took the manifold off it should go back on. If the engine/heads have had machine work and you're using a different manifold it could be problematic. Sit the new manifold on the heads, dry, without a gasket to check the fitment.

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

Take a break and chill out.
What motor is in the car for starters.
New intake manifold may have to be milled to match the heads if they or the deck has been milled previously.
Dry fit the intake without gaskets to see where you are at and go from there.
Oh and one more thing…

 

[1 Wild R/T]

As has been mentioned, if the heads were milled or the deck was milled it can be tough to get the bolts started... Ideally the intake surface of the heads should have also been milled but some guys insist on milling the intake so fitting another intake can be a problem...

Thinner gaskets is one option, I've had decent luck getting one bolt started then going to the other side & using a 1/4 or 5/16 Allen wrench in a bolt hole as a pry lever to pull the manifold down & start a second bolt...

If it's truly a no-go taking a cut off the manifold is always an option but if you take to much you've created a worse problem so I try to avoid that... Not the right thing but I have opened up the bolt holes on a couple manifolds to get bolts in without cross threading...

It can be a PITA, patience & persistence...

Oh, one other thing in the late 70 Chrysler started using bolts with a un-threaded lead in that helps getting bolts in straight... ARP 1437

 

[RussT Plymouths]

Reading through your earlier posts it looks like you're working on a 318 2BBL swap to 4BBL with a new cam. And looking at the picture of the bottom of your new intake it looks like it's drilled for either LA or Magnum. My Son-In-Law tried one like that on his first 318 project, spending several hours getting the bolts in only to be fighting a vacuum leak. He tried twice more, same results and then came to me sounding more frustrated than you. We grabbed an old cast iron 4BBL intake from my parts cache, scrubbed the grease off and in less than an hour he had it running perfect, that was over two years ago.

Most of us have been where you're at, sometimes you need to back away to see the solution, and sometimes its just a bad part, new or otherwise.

And I agree, good looking Belvedere II, but I am biased.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Reading through your earlier posts it looks like you're working on a 318 2BBL swap to 4BBL with a new cam. And looking at the picture of the bottom of your new intake it looks like it's drilled for either LA or Magnum. My Son-In-Law tried one like that on his first 318 project, spending several hours getting the bolts in only to be fighting a vacuum leak. He tried twice more, same results and then came to me sounding more frustrated than you. We grabbed an old cast iron 4BBL intake from my parts cache, scrubbed the grease off and in less than an hour he had it running perfect, that was over two years ago.

Most of us have been where you're at, sometimes you need to back away to see the solution, and sometimes its just a bad part, new or otherwise.

And I agree, good looking Belvedere II, but I am biased.

Good info..

 

[Kern Dog]

All I see is one picture of the drivers side of the car...no engine picture at all.

 

[moparedtn]

No no fellas, he's right. Might be time to throw in the towel....
Sit tight @B3vedere267 ! Soon as I can rustle up a trailer, I'll swing by and help
you rid yourself of all this frustration!

In all seriousness, it ain't no thang. Listen to these fellas, they'll get you through this.

 

[bearman]

2 cents worth. Take a couple of bolts cut the heads off screw into the heads then install intake. You will see the problem easy then. I agree with everyone else back up give it a break and then re start. The ride is outstanding.

 

[toolmanmike]

I am wanting to vent and possibly talked off the ledge. I recently installed a cam and lifters in my 1967 Belvedere II. Bought the Jegs version of the air gap manifold. Get everything ready, painted and go to install. The holes don’t line up. Tried everything, can’t get them to go.

This project has been fighting me the whole way. I am pretty close to calling it a day and selling it. I am super frustrated.

Thanks for letting me vent. If you are interested in a 1967 Belvedere II let me know. ;)View attachment 1229874

Give us some more information please. What engine for starters and some photos. There's a good chance the heads have ben milled but that is just a guess.

 

[B3vedere267]

Thanks for the positive comments!

The engine is a 318 that I believe to be the original from the car, but has been rebuilt at some point. As stated above, I did a cam swap and am in the process of converting from 2bbl to 4bbl.

The intake fits fine without gaskets. When you add the gasket it pushes one side of the intake bolt holes too far off to get the bolt started. Also, being new to mopars, there is a larger than I am used to gap in the front and back of the intake. Is that normal? It is probably a good 1/8 or a little bit better.

 

[Kern Dog]

Usually there is about a 1/8” gap between the block and intake. If it is taller and the heads were not milled, the intake could have been machined wrong. You could compare against the stock intake using a tape measure.
With the intake on and gaskets in place, with one side of the intake aligned with the bolt holes, are the intake holes on the other side above or below the threads in the heads?
On big blocks with paper gaskets and the valley pan, it all has to compress a bit to get the bolt holes to line up. The LA series small blocks are different but the principle is the same.
It may just need to press down some.

 

[beanhead]

I hate to be the one to say it, but...'Jegs' parts are chinese knockoffs so no surprise it's giving you trouble...heck I've got a few Edelbrocks from different engines on the bench that don't come close to matching each other!
Since the engine is assembled (and in the car?) the best solution now is to have the manifold flanges milled. Find a good machine shop and price it out; it's typically not very much (my guy here charges $60). If it fits right without gaskets, that's a good thing to know because now you know how much to have shaved. That *should bring the front and rear sealing edges closer together as well.