[Dynamical]

Originally Posted by brokedad

Been a little bit but quick update. I did buy a snap on torque wrench. I comes with paperwork on each individual torque wrench being tested for accuracy, so I think I am good in regards to accuracy. I applied orange locktight to each bolt. Orange is supposed to be an upgrade from blue and torqued all bolts following the instruction. Went for 30-40 minute drive and all bolts are needing retightened. One thing I forgot to do was mark them to see if the bolts are backing out, or is the gasket compressing. At this point I’m either going high ram or BTR because either way I’m tired off messing with this intake.

Thanks for the update. I too will want more reliability and less headaches when I do mine. Keep us updated!

[brokedad]

I really want to keep my stock hood. So the BTR is looking like the choice. Is there any other options for a stock hood that may be coming out?

[6spdhyperblue]

What if it’s the threads in the heads that are stripped?

[ta455ho]

I had this exact same issue with the MSD on my C6 Z06 as do alot of others. After trying multiple different remedies that were suggested on the corvetteforum and R&Ring the intake more times than I can remember, I finally came to some conclusions and found something that worked for me.
1. Make sure the intake is not hitting or resting on anything it shouldn't. On the LS7 if the heads are milled there is a chance the mouth of the intake is hitting the water pump and needs to be clearanced. In my case I installed the intake without the TB mounted and without the O-ring gaskets to the head and found I had to remove some material from the water pump and under the mouth of the intake for it to sit flush against the head. So now with the O-ring gaskets there was no chance of interference.

2. I blame the O-ring gaskets the MSD supplies with the intake. I went through multiple sets of O-rings to determine that everytime you torque the intake down it compresses more. And then with heat cycles the O-ring stays flat and the bolts no longer have the required torque on them. For example: install the intake, make multiple passes to the desired torque, drive the car. Check the torque hot - it's good. Check it again cold andits around 60-65in/lbs instead of 89, thus requiring a re-torque. I marked the bolts - they never backed out.

3. Lock-tite on the intake to head bolts is a waste of time. Because the bolt is not moving and you have to re-torque multiple times defeating the purpose of the Lock-tite. Lock-tite is still needed on the other bolts just not the bolts that mount the intake to the head.


My fix was to install the intake without lock-tite and torque the bolts to 109in/lbs, some will say to use more but I didn't want to risk it. Then let it sit overnight without firing it up and re-torque the bolts again. Fire it up, get some heat in it, let it cool, then re-torque again. Go for a drive, let it cool, then re-torque again. Re-torque it to 89in/lbs at lest once a week for 3 weeks. After that I went at least 3 months without checking and is was good.
So I think getting all of the squish out of the O-rings as soon as possible is the fix. Ideally MSD would come up with a better O-ring like on the OEM intakes........one can only hope.


Hope this helps.

[brokedad]

At this point I will give it a try. I really don’t want an aftermarket hood if I don’t have to, nor am I going to cut a hole in the hood. Thanks for all of the advise