valley pan

[three counties]

hi all,looks like a have a small oil leak at the front of the valley pan.have tried nipping the 3 bolts up but it is still leaking.fitted this about 18 months ago,it was a fel pro gasket.the inlet manifold is a elderbrock .it didnt fit as well as the old oringinal one,but after i got all the bolts lined up it pulled down ok.may get the valley pan from rockauto,its called a enginetech.would like to find out what sort of sealant is best for doing this.and if you just put the sealant on top of the valley pan,or do you have to put it also underneath as well?cannot remember how i done this untill i have taken it off.apart from that the rebuilt engine is running well,any help with this please,mick

[TW71]

I always used to put silicone rubber on both sides of the intake manifold part of the tin tray, an auto-motive silicone gasket in-a-tube which in our normal cold conditions went off not too quick giving you a chance to get things aligned ok before it went off!

Just run a small amount on the surface (s) on the tin tray and one side where the 3 bolts and metal strip goes (block side) and the gap in each 4 corners where the pan (head side) meets the block horizontal

[Steve]

Yeah Tim, good advice. When we replaced the heads on AndyRs Fury earlier this year, we thoroughly cleaned all of the faces where the valley pan met the block/ heads and ran a thin bead of sealant around every edge and bolt hole. We gently and accurately placed the pan on and fitted the bars on either end loosely. We ran another bead around the holes for the intake to heads before carefully placing the intake manifold onto the block. We tightened the intake manifold down evenly and then the bars front and rear. We tightened the middle bolt first then the outers to avoid buckling the bar. All worked well

[three counties]

thanks for the help on this,hopeing to get the new one delivered here today.could not have sealed it right the last time i fitted it.as it was only about 18 months ago,thanks again,mick