Choosing the correct pi intake gaskets

[96blak54]

This may seem redundant. You might even think their are no differences when it comes to pi intake gaskets.

At the place i work, we produce every ford pi intake manifold ever made and we still to this day produce it. One challenging aspect of this particular product and its special way of being made is the allowable amount of warpage from set datum points, such as from the intake flange front to the rear. Their can be warpage,but only so much. To reduce the tight allowable tolerances, thicker intake gaskets were used....kind of makes sence, right?

Fel-pro produced the original gaskets and they produce the aftermarket replacement as well. All the other brands produce gaskets but are not to ford spec. Gasket thickness is the major concern here.




What you see is a felpro at the top and a cheap rockauto at the bottom. Both pi intake approved intake gaskets but only one meeting ford specs for a 4.6l intake manifold.

Ford came to us stating leak problems with returned intakes. What we found and basically already knew was the thinner gaskets would leak. So we purchased multiple brands besides felpro to debunk with our leak test process and this is what was found.

 

[OpalFrostGT]

Excellent work and information! Can't thank you enough for this!

 

[ttocs]

but it saves you $5.00..... lol

 

[OpalFrostGT]

but it saves you $5.00..... lol

Ttocs, I don't quite understand your reply...

 

[ttocs]

the cheaper gasket, it saved you $5...

 

[96blak54]

But gaining hundreds in headaches,!!

 

[OpalFrostGT]

Well, that sounds very true after reading the information above! Thank you for your clarification.

 

[SnakeBit!]

Great information to have. thanks for your efforts!!!

 

[ttocs]

is there any way to do some kind of durability testing on the two gaskets as well? I was just thinking that we only hope that they used the same high quality material the thicker one has but if they cut corners they probably cut more than one...

 

[Monday]

Thanks for this share

 

[joe65]

shit man, cool job. really good info too! This should be shared with all the knuckleheads on FB 2v groups.

 

[96blak54]

And the answer to your response is no. FB can rot....lol. literally! Their are some mustang knowledgeable folk there,...with open minds, but they are few. I would bet to say the open minded visit other platforms, learning what they can. And then you have those that ban you for presenting knowledge that debunks theirs.

I would be curious to see who would believe this info without pictures.

 

[Monday]

And the answer to your response is no. FB can rot....lol. literally! Their are some mustang knowledgeable folk there,...with open minds, but they are few.

Or constantly get your comments deleted by "mods" cuz you call out other "Car Guys'" Bullshit!!

Todd Warren is really good at being a prick, but I tolerate his "entitled" bullshit because there are - so far - a couple of tips that I have already used. Is Warren a doofy prick? Don't know what to say, but the actions speak for themselves.

Why stay when deleting comments is fucked, the real tips. You don't wanna see my comments, fuck off. Close your eyes.

 

[ttocs]

everything has a good and a bad side it just depends on what you want to concentrate on. Yes facebook is full of idiots and morons, there are also some VERY smart people on there.

 

[96blak54]

Their are reasons why these people do not attend forums anymore and narrows themself to fb. Controlling people challenging their info.....they simply delete them from their group.

 

[ttocs]

Some of the best advice comes from the worst people imo.

 

[96blak54]

I agree!

Ive overloaded with advice from you!....lol

 

[Notthenow]

Hey Blak, I assume Mahle is in spec as it's Fel Pro's cousin company?

 

[96blak54]

I have no clue.

I will say this. Gaskets advertised as both 4.6l / 5.4l are more along the 5.4l design. At work we have both gasket styles because we make both intake styles and in the leaktest process of every intake, the correct style gasket is used in these machines when they get leak tested. One would think either gasket could swap out, work just fine. Say for instance we ran out of the 4.6l gaskets(cause the things get damaged with repeated use) so we try the 5.4l gasket and it leaks like crazy, never passing, always failing the intake. And vise versa to the 5.4l machine for leaktesting we try using the 4.6l gaskets. For one the gaskets are to thick and damages them every time the machine clamps up the intake. Adjusting the machine out to accept the 4.6l gaskets we find the machine will still fail the intake for flow through the water channel and this is because the 4.6l intake gaskets have a smaller hole for the water channel.

The 5.4l intakes are 3 separate components that are put together with ultrasonic welding process to make up its entirety. The pi 4.6l intake is one solid piece of injected plastic and this process comes with its faults one being warpage as the plastic cools, but all with in the ford specs.


What you see is a metal negative of the 4.6l intake. It gets placed into a mold, plastic is injected around it and then the metal is melted out. The metal is bismuth, has a low melting point and is extremely heavy. That negative is 200lbs.

 

[Notthenow]

Cool background on the process. Didn't know it was so similiar to regular casting.
I guess the take away is buy Ford when you can, or brand name, and check the thickness for good measure.