Hidden vacuum leak

Topic: Hidden vacuum leak (Read 3026 times) previous topic - next topic

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #15 – February 26, 2011, 07:52:39 PM

I should add that I remembered that the last time the lower intake was off was in a shop over a year ago. This was when I was trying to look into the noisy valvetrain and couldn't find anything. They didn't either but they also installed the gaskets. Nice to know that I DO have to do everything myself in order to make things done right.

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #16 – February 26, 2011, 10:00:41 PM

Quote from: Seek;354073

I should add that I remembered that the last time the lower intake was off was in a shop over a year ago. This was when I was trying to look into the noisy valvetrain and couldn't find anything. They didn't either but they also installed the gaskets. Nice to know that I DO have to do everything myself in order to make things done right.

Haha! I had that same thought while sanding on the car, that if I had payed that shop to paint my car, they NEVER would have bothered to take off all the bad paint/primer, and then their paintjob would have looked like in a few years.

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #17 – March 01, 2011, 03:05:07 PM

Okay guys - replaced lower intake gaskets and the whistling is gone. Both sides had a 1/16-1/8" wide "rip"/valley in them from the hollow spots in the head surface (between runners), to the top. that had to of been there from before the intake was pulled as that is where the water was getting sucked in. I have no idea if that was just erosion from over time, or it got installed like that somehow and the vacuum worked its way into those tears (more likely).

Either way - much quieter now!

Also - gt40p heads are a true PITA! Having to reinstall the distributor that got twisted, I had some excess fuel problems after timing issues and could get no more than 2 spark plugs out easily to purge the cylinders. I can't wait to swap them out for something else as some minimal 5hp over gt40s isn't worth the hassle. This is with the FMS p-specific headers. I've been really tempted to pick up some aluminums before I went into there to replace the gasket but really can't splurge on that right now. I can't recommend p heads to anyone due to how they make a 15 minute spark plug job change into a 4 hour job on my engine/accessories.

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #18 – March 02, 2011, 03:40:12 PM

Quote from: Seek;354312

Also - gt40p heads are a true PITA! Having to reinstall the distributor that got twisted, I had some excess fuel problems after timing issues and could get no more than 2 spark plugs out easily to purge the cylinders. I can't wait to swap them out for something else as some minimal 5hp over gt40s isn't worth the hassle. This is with the FMS p-specific headers. I've been really tempted to pick up some aluminums before I went into there to replace the gasket but really can't splurge on that right now. I can't recommend p heads to anyone due to how they make a 15 minute spark plug job change into a 4 hour job on my engine/accessories.

I have the same heads and headers you do and it takes me maybe 15 minutes to swap plugs. I use a spark plug socket and wratchet on #1 & #8 and a spark plug socket and box end wrench on the other 6 plugs. I don't have a problem at all and I'm running standard Motorcraft plugs. My car doesn't have any thermactor or emissons equipment to block my way though ;).

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #19 – March 06, 2011, 11:50:16 PM

Maybe my spark plug sockets just suck then. I have a duralast and like 3 or 4 craftsman ones. We had tons of issues when installing them for the first time also - we had to get some special socket from some place and the socket has been missing for years. My sockets won't go on the spark plug without hitting the headers. I think the other socket we found worked fine for six but two required an open wrench and one was still a huge pain.

I don't have thermactor stuff in place either - the smog pump locked up one day and I just said screw it. On another note, my previous GT40 heads ran 3x cleaner (like 40 versus 130ppm) during emissions as my P-heads do, both being fresh, and they made life as easy as the stock motor. A million and one things can account for simple changes in emission testing through.

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #20 – March 07, 2011, 02:22:22 AM

wow, almost forgot about this thread.
so you dont like the GT40 heads?

Hidden vacuum leak

Reply #21 – March 09, 2011, 04:42:05 PM

My Craftsman socket works fine