[Barry_R]

First - the gasket choice. The steel lined gaskets are great. I am the guy that brought them into the market. If you have heavily ported heads they are not going to work. The steel will take you forever to trim and you'll likely destroy the gasket trying.

For ported heads we use a gasket made from an Interface/Armstrong paper material that has the consistancy of floor tile. It can be trimmed for ports, but you need a new and extremely sharp X-Acto blade.

As to installation:
First make sure that all surfaces are extremely clean. Make sure that the locating dowel has been removed from any OEM blocks. Lay the gaskets on the heads dry. Set the intake into position and use the disributor as a locator to establish front to back and side to side position. Level the end seal surfaces to the block using feeler guages.

Use a .010 feeler guage to verify that all the machined interfaces between heads and intake are parallel to each other - measure top and bottom at each corner and write your notes on the intake with a Sharpie. Then look at the valve cover rail alignment - measure and make note of any variances from intake to heads. Use a small flashlight to inspect for bolt hole position - they need to be centered. On first time assemblies this is also the time when you test install the pushrods and check for tube clearance.

Sometimes everything fits and you go to the next step. Usually I go to the guy running the Bridgeport and explain what the notes written all over the intake mean, where to remove the material, what angles to cut at, and how much to cut. If the intake is not square and flat with bolt holes that are inline it ill never seal correctly, will leak again, and will break off bolt bosses. Check a swap meet and se how many FE intakes have broken bolt bosses.

(Optionally you can listen to some guys on the internet as they cry that somehow its better to cut on a $3000 pair of heads than to cut a $400 intake that's warped and wont fit anything. Then you can go and cut the intake anyways because it's your engine, it's the right thing to do, and you're fixing the engine you have now - not some if/come mystery engine for a theoretical somebody else in the distant future. Buy the internet guys a digital beer).

Now - assuming all the magic is done - we install it for real. I prefer no end seals. I use and sell only Motorcraft TA-31 silicone sealer. It comes in a caulk tube. Its gray, looks nice, and hardens to a plastic like consistancy. Intended for diesel use, it is highly oil resistant. I apply a film as thin as possible - like a coat of paint everywhere first - using my finger to get solid adhesion, install the gaskets, and then add a thick front and rear seal bead. Another thin film of goo on the gaskets and set the intake in place.

With the intake setting in position use a mallet (or your fist) to tap it into proper location. Again use the distributor as a locator. All the fasteners should go in with ease. Use washers. Get all of them started before tightening. Once everything is tight and together you can use a razor blade to clean up the end seal silicone for a really nice cosmetic appearance. Don't forget to use a finger to remove any squeezed out silicone from the distributor hole - its a real bugger to remove the distributor if it hardens.