0171 Code Stuff, It's never run better!

[blacksambo]

Well the light has gone out, finally, and it has never run better, quite frankly.
I've now relplaced both the top and bottom common chamber gaskets. I know this 171 code thing has been a bother to many here on the board. My take is the quality of the gaskets is the key. The bottom gaskets I removed had rivets on the far ends of the gasket. The Fel-Pro set I just inserted had rivets in the middle section, thus making over torquing less of a problem. My guess is that some VX's came with broken gaskets from the factory, that became eventually worse over time. Then the knee-jerk reaction is to over torque to try to correct, so that made matters only worse. Bottom line, these gaskets merely sit in position (13lbs torque), and need to remain stable yet they are largely made of brittle plastic. One other thought, could ethanol have a deliterious effect on plastic? Stay tuned.

[Gussie2000]

That's good news !
Your thoughts about ethanol messing with plastic is absolutely right.
Not only ethanol will do'also the acethone,kerosene,gasoline,thinner & probably all diluyents may cause damages on the any plastic material.

So see ya on july ?
I'll announcing where our meet will be held,close to all main highways so the ride can be short as possible.

[Hotsauce]

This is a dry manifold, with injectors directly in the head. No fuel touches the gaskets.

John C.

[blacksambo]

This is a dry manifold, with injectors directly in the head. No fuel touches the gaskets.

John C.

Unfortunately, that's not the case here. The injectors release in direct proximity to this plastic gasket, and not into the head, as direct injection systems do. Also, a lot of VX'ers of late have been reporting a code 171 gasket problem. It's curious, that's all I'm saying, ethanol has had a couple of years now to work on the plastic???

[WormGod]

I have had a set of new FelPro lower gaskets in my garage for a couple weeks now. Just been cringing at the thought of tearing down the S/C AGAIN to get around to swapping. Such tedious work....