Burning Oil - Intake gasket no seated

[tcabece427]

I finally got my newly built (ERA #801) on the road, with my freshly rebuild 427 sideoiler. Needless to say I was scratching my head and not a little disappointed when she kept burning oil! At one point I went through 6 quarts of oil in 100 miles. I've built a few 390's back in the day and never had any oil burning problems. I turned to previous threads here about burning oil issues and the ones around the intake pulling in oil from the valley side seemed to be most relevant to what I was experiencing.
I have new Edelbrock heads with a Blue Thunder intake. I used the Edelbrock intake manifold gaskets. I had no problems with antifreeze in the oil. But did have idle issues (hard to tell with the cam I have) and I could never get the mixture right. It always seemed to burn lean no matter how much I adjusted the mixture screws (Holley 4160, 750CFM).
This weekend I replaced the intake gaskets with the Fel pro 1247-S3 and used Motorcraft TA-31 sealant. I was unable to find the Victor Reinz gaskets. When I did pull the intake off, there was evidence of oil between the gasket and head side of the intake port.
Everything runs great now. No oil burning and idles better.

[genolan]

Make sure you re-torque the intake bolts after a few hot cold cycles. I had a similar problem and it finally sucked anti freeze in which made it very visible. For the longest time I couldn't get the idle under 1000 RPM and that was the reason.

[ERA Chas]

Victor is out of business or taken-over by another mfgr.

[CHANMADD]

That's what's called a vacuum leak.

[1795]

Nice to see that you have fixed the manifold leak problem. These fe's by their design can be a little problematic when placing the intake manifold on the gasket. Mine had a leak too and we carefully measured for proper thickness and then tacked the gasket in place before replacing the manifold. Enjoy the car. Looks nice, can't go wrong with an ERA

[RICK LAKE]

Gald you found the problem and got it fixed.
Couple notes for installing FE intakes to heads
Install intake on heads without gaskets and check with a feeler gauge the clearance at the front and rear of the motor. Want nice tight fix. There is a limit of about, .010" before you start to have oil leaks and gasket sealing issues. heads and intake may need to be machined to match angles.
Glue the gasket to the heads, It's a pain to get off. Make sure the holes are centered for the bolts or studs
Get 2 guys to drop intake on the motor. King Kong if the intake is iron.
Follow the bolt torque pattern from center out on both side swapping sides. Start with a 15 foot pound to get all bolts or nuts ( if studs are used ) and work your way up to spec. It takes time but saves gasket problems.
Last thing Clean surfaces with no residue on them.
Me personally I glue both sides with Hi-Tac red.
Gald your motor is fixed. Rick L. Ps gald to see another era. Welcome to the family, 801 from car 428