Austarion

After suffering for just over a month with no Starion, I’ll be picking up my new cylinder head this afternoon.
I’ve purchased everything I need to fit it, apart from the intake manifold gasket.

Naturally I’m quite keen to get the car up and running over the weekend but no-one in town seems to stock this gasket.
I’ve previously cut my own gaskets in the past, but this will be the first intake manifold one I’ve done.

My question is this:



Keeping the number of cuts to a minimum – will there be any issues if I do not include the lip present under each pair of intake ports?

I only worry that if I include the lip with my novice gasket cutting skills, the gasket may crease/tear and cause a leak at a later date.
Both the cylinder head and intake manifold are not here, so I can’t visually check – I assume this is some sort of coolant passage (?) albeit a tiny one.

Any replies regarding ‘thinking ahead of time’ or ‘exercising patience’ will be taken onboard for character building purposes.

Not a coolant passage. Maybe it's there for expansion or like a fuse in case of a backfire, it blows the gasket and not back through the intake (just theorising)

They're there for JDM heads with jet valves. If you dont have jet valves, or have eliminated them, you dont need them :-).

The inlet side is not as crucial as the exhaust...why don't you just use 'form-a-gasket'?
5 minute job then.

Always use a gasket there. And be aware silicone gets eaten by fuel, so no silicone near the ports...

I used fuel safe gasket silicon, good with sensors too, lasted at least a couple of years until I swapped out the parts, it showed no sign of failure.

If it's fuel safe it's not silicone, but yes make sure whatever sealer you use is fuel resistant. Best one is loctite 515/518

hi all,
thanks for the suggestions...happened across a full gasket kit elsewhere, then once i got home - found an unused inlet manifold gasket at the bottom of my cupboard..
always the way
james