1003 Felpro = 4.166 bore
7310 Felpro = 4.125 bore
Old gasket is .041 larger... probably what caused the issue. I never really have liked those black gaskets, I know when I bolted on my Eddy heads, I laid the gaskets on the block and heads to make sure all the holes lined up, and that the "fire rings" of the gasket didn't overlap the edges of the combustion chambers.
You don't have a 400 block do you ?
If so, you need to make sure the holes are drilled in the heads and gaskets for the two extra coolant passages.
Block sand your head's lightly, clean the deck of the block, prep it with some thinner,or alcohol. Lay out the gaskets like I said above to check all the holes. Clean up all your bolts, run a thread chaser on all the bolt holes in the block, blow them out with air.
Do not use a tap.
I install my gaskets dry... Felpro puts that blue coating on there for a reason...
others will argue and spray all sorts of shit on their gaskets. I chose not to, and have been building engines for many many years.
Set your head's on, and install the bolts using assembly lube under the bolt head, sealant on the bolt threads that live in the water jacket. blind bolt holes use assembly lube on the threads.
Torque in three steps. I do 30,,45,,70 ft lbs.
Edelbrock calls for 65,,but with
permatorque gaskets, I don't retorque,and it's never been an issue.
Use slow even pulls on the torque wrench, and do not stop rotating the bolt before the click. If you do, back off the bolt,, reposition
and do it again. You don't want false readings caused by trying to overcome the friction once you've stopped.
I'm not preaching...just teaching here...you may know all of this stuff already, but I would hate to see you go through all of this again, and have another failure.
Good luck !
