The V8 Owners Forum -

I would like some advice on port matching my heads to inlet manifolds , I assume you need to find the gasket you plan on using and do the port matching to that ,I was just going to go to the same internal size as the gasket I was going to use ?? I don’t suppose all gaskets are the same size ??so I will want to use that particular gasket from now on ? Also anyone out there got any preferences on inlet manifold gaskets ??? I was planning on Using some form of composite gasket as I assume there a better seal than the tin ones , am I also right in assuming there a bit thicker than the tin one ? I’m doing a turbo conversion and will be using composite head gaskets with Sd1 heads so I assume the thicker the head gasket the more the heads will separate at the valley thus needing a thicker composite inlet valley gasket to compensate ?

Thanks Nick

Only way to know is buy some and see how they fit on yours.

Thanks

I thought the best way to match the inlets was to bolt up a bit of thin card between the heads and manifold and use that as a pattern to make the ports the same shape because just matching to a gasket makes the cross section bigger at the gasket line than in the head or manifold? (But could well be this doesn't matter with a turbo)
FWIW I've come across two different types of composite valley gaskets, one coated with what feels like a thin foam rubbery material (this was in "genuine parts" packaging) and one (Britpart) with a thin cardboardy type layer each side. TBH I couldn't say there was much if any difference in thickness between them but I didn't have a plain metal gasket to compare so can't help there.

I've seen some pretty awful inlet manifold gaskets from my local LR independent. First one had bolt holes missing. Second one masked the inlet ports on more than one cylinder. Eventually paid top dollar for a genuine spare from a LR main dealer. Three times the price, but at least it fitted correctly. So do check any carefully.