[olddog]

With the intake off, make certain that you can screw the intake bolts all the way into the head. This was my problem. The four ends would not turn all the way in.

On my Edl heads all four ends, they did not use a bottom tap. With the bolts torqued, I could slide 0.003 feeler gauge under the head of the bolts. I had to rip out the heli-coils, run a tap down, and put in new heli-coils.

I used Victor Rienze (sp?) gaskets. They have a layer of metal in them and will not deform like others. I got them at NAPA.

I went the extra mile. I used carbon steel grade 8 studs instead of bolts. I used a stainless steel washer and nut. After a few heat cycles, I re-torqued the nuts. Then I installed stainless steel acorn nuts. The acorn nut acts like a jam nut, and covers the studs for aesthetics. It looks great. You do have to pay attention to the stud length when you install them. I used lock tight on the studs going into the heads. Nothing can move on its own, now. No problems since (4-5 yrs ago).