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I had some trouble getting the intake manifold installed. In order to get the bolts to line up I had to push on the manifold. Is this an indication of a warped head cylinder? When I took the bike apart initially I had to tap the manifold with a rubber mallet to get it loose. On other Harley's I worked on, the manifold goes into place very easily.
On most EVO builds if you tighten the heads down without the intake manifold in place you will have alignment problems. The head may just be out of place.
So you recommend loosen the heads one at a time and attach the manifold hand tight? For example, the front cylinder is at TDC now so I'll loosen front head then attach manifold then torque down head. Then repeat for rear head after placing at TDC.
Think that's recommended procedure in the manual, but I can't find it in my '93. But I've had plenty of mechanic friends tell me the same thing. You have to tighten down the heads and manifold as an assembly. Hopefully some of the mechanics on this forum will chime in and verify if that's correct or not.
As old as these machines are, if your cylinder heads have been resurfaced with smaller or shaved as others out it. It will decrease the distance between the heads for the intake tuner.. And I would no recommend loosening the cylinder heads in an attempt for more room... Take a file to the end of the port of necessary..
Filing down the two manifold outlet ports would be less work! Here's a picture showing the new James seal and the old seal. Initially I thought the seal was too thick / fat.
It does have a little different of a taper to it the new one that is, make sure it fits the manifold retainer.. I always take a little silicone, vacuum grease, and put a very slight coat on the seal this way I know that it spreads evenly as well as the intake manifold too so it slides properly and seats properly..
The mechanic that told me about aligning everything together as you tighten the heads down also mentioned something like an 1104 or 1107 gasket maker? Maybe it was a 3 Bond product. I can't remember. But he said it kinda comes out like string? And he built a lot of EVO's. Just saying that's what he said he uses on the manifolds.
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