First, I want to express my apprecation to Dan Stern and Doug Dutra on their article on manifold installation; it is not only good assembly info but has all sorts of good tips in it, and incorporates years of experience. I have read that about 6 times now! I just reworked my manifolds; it had 3 exhaust leaks that had been there who knows how long under the 2 PO's. The problem is that after installation, the heat riser valve is perfectly free when cold but jams up hard when hot. (I did indeed cut out the bridge on the inter-manifold stamped steel gasket.) This did not occur before the gasket replacement.

So I suspect the exhaust manifold is hanging and warping more than it should and I'm scratching my head as to the cause. I used a Felro gasket, and used beads of blue RTV gasket-maker on the intake ports on both sides of the gasket, and copper high temp RTV beads on the exhaust ports on both sides of the gasket. The RTV was allowed to set up for about 50 miuntes under light torque before final torquing.

The exhaust manifold did not seme to be warped all that much: I dry assembled to the head it without gasket as recommended, and with the fasteners just snugged up, not torqued, only the #3 port had any gap over .010" and only in the middle of the top of the port where it had eroded a bit from one of the old leaks.

Can using RTV on both sides of this gasket 'hang up' the manifold from moving? And is there a source for the flat metal gaskets? I could not find the NAPA part online that was recommended.

I am going to adjust the torque on the 3 inter-manifold bolts today; the outer 2 torqued fine but I did not torque the inner single one fully as I had to drill out and helicoil that bolt hole. I also have used some hardened washers on 2 of the triangular points while waiting for a few triangles to come in but undertorqued those nuts to allow that area to move more easily. I'll also loosen and retorque all fasteners just in case one somehow tightened (though I can't imagine how).

Any experinece and advice is appreciated; I have no desire to drive this 'til the old manifold snaps!