Exhaust manifold to head gasket orientation.

Exhaust manifold gasket (at head) clearance problem.

Hi All,
I'm putting an AHU back together and I was about to put the exhaust manifold back on and ran into an issue. I have the gaskets with the composite material on one side and metal on the other. They are all exactly the same. They have wider lobe on one side and a narrower on the other. I'm using a PD130 intake and the 3+4 ports go on just fine with the narrow lobes up but the 1+2 ports the wide lobe has to point upward but they interfere with the intake. Should I simply shave the small amount off the gasket to gain clearance? What am I missing? Thanks for the help.
Joel

YEP, i had the same issue with my pd150, you have to take a file to the lobes on those 2 ports so that the exhaust will fit. just on the side though, trust me just take off about 3/16" off the area its hitting and it will fit with no issues. I dont know why this is but it is what it is.
I roughly outlined where your going to trim. I had to do it to all 4 of mine and on the exhaust manifold as i had a custom manifold from fleebay and nothing fit at all. Good luck, use the gasket as a template.
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Thanks! I realized my title is pretty confusing so I edited it. I was actually thinking of taking the material off the gasket instead of the intake. I’m using an AAZ manifold (this is for a vanagon conversion) and it nests in there nicely with the PD130 intake. I’ve seen the one piece gaskets and they have the small lobes pointing up. Oh well. It’s such a minimal amount to remove from the gaskets and I can use them as a template I think I’ll just do that. Is there anything wrong with Just shaving the gasket?

well if you can get it to work and clear by modifying the gasket, go for it. its a small amount.

joelsolomonson said:

Thanks! I realized my title is pretty confusing so I edited it. I was actually thinking of taking the material off the gasket instead of the intake. I’m using an AAZ manifold (this is for a vanagon conversion) and it nests in there nicely with the PD130 intake. I’ve seen the one piece gaskets and they have the small lobes pointing up. Oh well. It’s such a minimal amount to remove from the gaskets and I can use them as a template I think I’ll just do that. Is there anything wrong with Just shaving the gasket?

Click to expand...

I can't see that taking a minor amount of gasket material off will do any damage. I also can't see why inverting the gasket would cause any problems, so in my book it's your call.

As for orientation of other gaskets that you've looked at they were generally designed to be used in the easiest position with the OE manifold installed, but that's not always the case, especially with parts that were carried over from earlier engines.

I think you'll be fine doing a little trimming...

Steve