Thermostat housing bolts on aluminum intake??

[GM Man]

My 78 Jimmy has a slow leak around the thermostat housing. The question I have is, how tight should the bolts be on the housing when I replace the thermostat? Steel bolts with an aluminum manifold doesnt sit well with me. Thanks.

 

[Z3PR]

Put a new gasket in. Paint it up really good with Permitex (Probley misspelled) or something like that.

 

[rhuarc31]

Just use a lot of antiseize, it'll be okay /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. I think the spec your looking for is 10 ft/lbs.

 

[merace19]

Had the same problem on a 327 one time. I had bought one of those cheap but chrome plated housings and that sucker leaked all the time i put 2 gaskets on it and it still leaked. I finally cleaned off all the gasket material and sat it down on a flat surface and the damn thing was warpped for the factory. Imagine that a defective part. The store had a display model of the same one on my truck and i just swapped it out and worked fine. They are not torqed down very hard 20 max

 

[99firehawk]

Dont use permatex, thats asking for a leak, get some 3m yellow eather strip adhesive. CLean the intake and the neck and apply the weather strip adhesive to both side of the gasket. Wait about 4 minutes then put it back together and tighten the bolts to about 12 ft lbs. Let it sit for abotu an hour before you put coolant into it. (longer if its really cold where you are) it wont leak anymore after that.

 

[GM Man]

Thanks guys! /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

 

[m j]

change the bolts out for some studs
if you go to an industrial supplier and ask for long set screws they will work great