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Originally Posted by The Boss
Agreed, no problem on the flat spot behind the carb - however you have a number of surfaces painted that shouldn't be and some others that should be. Wasn't the thermostat housing on the intake (& the intake on the engine) when painted & won't that surface and the exhaust port surface on the heads present a problem when you go to attach the housing & exhaust? Also - if you are going for correctness - the intake to head gasket would have been painted along with the engine.
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Chris - you are certainly right that for correctness this thing should have been painted fully assembled, but for several reasons it was not. I have never built an engine before and can't say with any certainty that paint on gasket surfaces will not present any sealing issues. However, MPD has done several hundred and I'll trust his judgement. Ultra Grey was used in all gasket areas sealing water or oil. From a purely theoretical viewpoint, I'm not sure how paint would prevent a good seal from being formed, but it sounds like this may generate much debate and discussion. Either way, this engine will be a test case.
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The Boss - Was the chimney bracket on when painted? Or was that assembled when the choke was put on?
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Another item I am not sure of, but the original chimney that PB recently obtained had been painted so I went that direction. Also, I believe some of the vintage pictures that have floated around showed the chimney bracket in place.
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The Boss - Valve cover & intake bolts would have been painted as well. Might have a problem with the fuel pump too with that surface painted.
Also - do you have the correct intake gasket? It looks like the exhaust crossover is open.
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Agreed on the intake and valve cover bolts, but another casualty of the unconventional paint process. I'll paint the valve cover bolts eventually, but I plan to put sacrificial covers on for the actual install and thought it would be better to do that later.
On the intake gasket, technically no one makes a "correct" intake gasket for a 7F6 head. However, the gasketing is correct and the opening you see above the crossover is the blind hole unique to 7F6 heads. Most believe the Pontiac engineers had this cast into the heads to prevent oil coking issues.
I look forward to seeing more comments on the paint/gasket issue. Sounds like this one might be controversial.