Well, I have eat a bit of crow it seems. I took the manifold off which had been just held on loosely and used a straight edge from the head manifold seal surface and found that I should about .12" clearance to the raised features on the block so they are not the problem. Then I threaded a bolt into the head and measured the distance between the clamp and the seal surface on the head and compared that measurement with manifold. Plenty of room for the bolt to thread in far enough to clamp it. What I am sure it is now is the alignment rings on the intake passage ways. I have them pressed into the head and they function to hold the gasket in place while I slip the manifold on but apparently are not fitting into their respective counterbores on the manifold. So I will take them out and grind a slight chamfer or lead-in on them. Odd that it was not this difficult a job the first time I did it.
And yes, I know about the tightening sequence and torque values.
I think I would still try to silver solder some shims on if I had to. If the part was unusable as it was, I would have nothing to lose but some time and silver solder. I do have a gas forge that the entire manifold assembly would fit in and I could try that.
Thanks all for putting up with me and I hope you all cut me some amount of slack. I started this all while I was running a temp of nearly 101 degrees and actually should have been in bed. Seems I have some kind of urinary infection or something and the antibiotics are just starting to do their thing.
Last edited by Gazz; 07/19/2014 9:54 PM.
