Small-Block Chevy Setup - The Widow Maker’s Made …

Gone are the high-swirl center-bolt cylinder heads to make room for a set of pre-’87 standard cast-iron heads. Note that neither the base engine nor the new (old) heads are performance-oriented to begin with—if we were looking to achieve big numbers, we wouldn’t have chosen either in the first place. This will be good, reliable, and as efficient an engine as can be.

Heads installed and valvetrain initially dialed in, it’s time to pre-fit the intake system. One thing about this particular engine that we learned (were told) was that despite having an external fuel pump provision, there is no internal provision to run a mechanical pump—which won’t pose a problem since an electric fuel pump will be used.

If you were wondering what was meant by “pre-fitting”, when you’re dealing with aluminum intake manifolds and aluminum valve covers, there can be issues with clearance. So before you go gluing any gaskets or squeezing any silicone …

… make sure there’ll be no interference between either component. If you look closely, you can see that had it not been for someone previously notching the inner lips of the valve covers, the thicker intake runner flanges on the Offy manifold wouldn’t have cleared.

… make sure there’ll be no interference between either component. If you look closely, you can see that had it not been for someone previously notching the inner lips of the valve covers, the thicker intake runner flanges on the Offy manifold wouldn’t have cleared.

With the clearances all cleared, the sealing could finally begin. Rather than using cork or rubber front and rear seals, a nice big bead of silicone was laid on the block from head to head. Normally, this prevents leaks better, as the seals sometimes have a tendency to get pushed out when the manifold is tightened down.

And as with the previous process, there’s more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to intake manifold gaskets. In our case, the gaskets were first attached to the head with Gasgacinch, then a dab of silicone at each corner between the block and head, before the intake was dropped in place (no dressing on top side of gasket).

And as with the previous process, there’s more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to intake manifold gaskets. In our case, the gaskets were first attached to the head with Gasgacinch, then a dab of silicone at each corner between the block and head, before the intake was dropped in place (no dressing on top side of gasket).

When installing the manifold bolts (socket head Allens in this case), silicone was applied to all the ones that enter water passages. With this particular intake manifold, due to its thicker construction, standard hex bolts will not work, thus the use of Allens—ARP bolts, with their smaller head, will work too, but as far as appearance, don’t go too well with the vintage look.