396 Intake gasket source

[William B.]

65 396/425, Ordering a fel pro engine gasket set, with a one piece oil pan gasket, Is there a better intake gasket set for sealing, judging points are important but sealing is 1st priority,
In the past I cut the supplied intake gasket to look like the original and sealed the ends with form a gasket like it's done on newer cars.
Suggestions please

[Wayne L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

I purchased my last set from Amazon. I think they were Victor-Reinz. They were black and shaped correctly.
Wayne

[Patrick H.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

judging points are important but sealing is 1st priority,

If it's the same blue material that they use for the one piece small block pan gasket, it's quite difficult to get orange engine paint to stick to this gasket for long. I'm not sure if any type of primer would help, but the ones I have installed will start to flake the orange paint.

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

65 396/425, Ordering a fel pro engine gasket set, with a one piece oil pan gasket, Is there a better intake gasket set for sealing, judging points are important but sealing is 1st priority,
In the past I cut the supplied intake gasket to look like the original and sealed the ends with form a gasket like it's done on newer cars.
Suggestions please

William------


In my opinion, the best sealing gaskets are the original type, "embossed" gaskets. Unfortunately, I know of no major gasket manufacturer that still offers this type gasket. However, such gaskets are available from reproduction sources like Paragon. These are also configured as original. With any gasket set, sealer must be used at the corners where the end seals meet the side gaskets. A very light coat of sealer should also be used around the water passages.

One word of caution: if your cylinder heads have been surfaced or if your manifold mating surfaces have been machined, this will disturb the angularity relationship between the manifold and cylinder head. In such instances, you may not get a good seal no matter what gaskets you use or what else you do.

[Stewart L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

Bill, I ordered a 396 intake gasket set from LICS recently, it was Fel Pro sides and what appeared to be reproduction ends with the GM logo on the tabs. It worked fine.

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

Bill, I ordered a 396 intake gasket set from LICS recently, it was Fel Pro sides and what appeared to be reproduction ends with the GM logo on the tabs. It worked fine.

Stewart------

Were the side gaskets embossed type or "flat"?

[Stewart L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

This is the one they sell.

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 Intake gasket source

This is the one they sell.

Stewart------

The side gaskets look like standard Fel-Pro in configuration. I can't tell if they're the embossed type. With embossed, there is a very slight rise around the ports and coolant passages.

[Stewart L.]