440 valley pan

kenfyoozed

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on inspection of taking off the valley pan on my 440, I saw no traces of any type of sealant. The instructions that came with the new valley pan from fel-pro say to add a sealant at the four corners. Is this advisable or should it go back stock and dry?

Also there was this piece of insulation between the valley pan and the intake. Should I find something to replace this? If so any suggestions?

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The insulation is sound deadening material to help quite the noise from the lower part of the valve train. You can safely discard that item. The factory metal shim used no sealant. If you have bright shiny metal at the sealing surfaces, you probably won't need any. Caveat: if there is any rust present that has resulted it pitting of the sealing surface, then you should use a light coating of aircraft grade Permetex. The corners under the mounting strip at the foreground of your photo would sometime weep oil, you will not hurt a thing by adding sealant there. All this assumes that you are re-installing the factory cast manifold. After market aluminum manifolds require the use of paper gaskets on the intake ports. Be sure to use you shop vac to clean up as much debris as possible so all that crap does not fall into the valley.

Dave
 
I wouldn't say its bright shiny metal but its not pitted either. I would rather be safe than sorry so i may add the sealant. Should I put a light coating over all the mating surfaces, just corners or all along the front and back?
 
I wouldn't say its bright shiny metal but its not pitted either. I would rather be safe than sorry so i may add the sealant. Should I put a light coating over all the mating surfaces, just corners or all along the front and back?

If it is not pitted, you probably do not need it, but a light coating will not hurt anything either. Be sure to torque the manifold bolts per the FSM, most leaks are the result of bolts that are too tight or too loose.

Dave
 
My FSM only mentions the torque value of 40lbs. It doesn't give a sequence but I was going to start in the middle and work my way out.

I couldn't also find the torque specs for the the three bolts on the front and back of the pan.
 
Did you get the Fel Pro valley pan that has the crossover blocked? That will help some of your hot carb problems.
 
The lifter galley is very dirty. Is there a way to clean this while its in the car?

Scrape off what you can without getting any of it into the pan, most of what is likely to be in there is sludge, so it is like scraping goo but at least it does not fall apart readily.

Dave
 
I've never heard that before, and have always used a metal valley pan and some rtv without issues.

Most of the aluminum manifolds will work without running the paper gasket, they were supplied because the steel shim would eventually cut grooves from expansion/contraction in the soft aluminum. That could make for a tough time getting it to seal if it needed to be removed and reinstalled.

Dave
 
Permatex High-tack or aircraft sealant around the ports, including the heat crossover even if it is blocked. Thin line of Ultra black from the slopes down across the front and rear rails.
I never use the paper gaskets unless the heads have been cut for them (to hard to line the bolts up). I have never had a issue with aluminum intake, steel gasket and high tack/aircraft sealant.
 
Permatex High-tack or aircraft sealant around the ports, including the heat crossover even if it is blocked. Thin line of Ultra black from the slopes down across the front and rear rails.
I never use the paper gaskets unless the heads have been cut for them (to hard to line the bolts up). I have never had a issue with aluminum intake, steel gasket and high tack/aircraft sealant.

The thick paper gaskets were a cheap way to compensate for heads that had planed and blocks that had been decked, which is not an issue here. You are correct that getting all the holes to line up with the thick gaskets could be an issue if everything was stock. We sometimes needed to mill the bolt holes in the manifold by 1/64" to get things to fit properly.

Dave
 
I've done it both ways with aluminum manifolds with and without paper gaskets. Doesn't seem to make much difference, but the school of thought is that the paper gaskets are used with aluminum manifolds. It has been discussed, but I've never seen hard proof, that the factory used paper gaskets on their aluminum six-pack manifolds.
 
I've done it both ways with aluminum manifolds with and without paper gaskets. Doesn't seem to make much difference, but the school of thought is that the paper gaskets are used with aluminum manifolds. It has been discussed, but I've never seen hard proof, that the factory used paper gaskets on their aluminum six-pack manifolds.

I have never seen any thing from Mopar on this either, think it was in one of the tech support articles from Edelbrock. Been many years ago so I do not remember for sure.

Dave
 
could be an issue if everything was stock. We sometimes needed to mill the bolt holes in the manifold by 1/64" to get things to fit properly.

D
If your machine shop does not remove the right amount from the intake face of the head the thick gaskets will make port mismatch and bolt holes worse. I have just never used paper on a near stock setup, aluminum or iron, the high tack dries hard and does not protrude into ports like RTV. I use RTV one head to block are down onto rails.
The high tack also is very good at holding the block offs cut out of the old valley pan and set in the new one.
 
I have never seen any thing from Mopar on this either, think it was in one of the tech support articles from Edelbrock. Been many years ago so I do not remember for sure.

Dave
Chrysler had part# 3514186 that were paper gaskets that were listed for 440 6bbl applications. I've never seen proof that they were used in the factory engines or not though.

Their paper gaskets were very thin. Not like some of the aftermarket versions.
 
Chrysler had part# 3514186 that were paper gaskets that were listed for 440 6bbl applications. I've never seen proof that they were used in the factory engines or not though.

Their paper gaskets were very thin. Not like some of the aftermarket versions.

Given that the '69 manifold was an Elelbrock, that may have been what they recommended.

Dave
 
Given that the '69 manifold was an Elelbrock, that may have been what they recommended.

Dave
They used the Edelbrock on the '70 too, but there were cars sold with the cast iron six pack manifold later too. I believe that by 1971, they were all cast iron.

BTW, the cast iron six pack manifold is heavier than all hell.
 
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