New EQ Head port misalignment?

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ZMAN24250

ZMAN24250

Speed person with a car problem
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Hoping someone has seen something like this before and can point me in the right direction....

Bought some EQ heads (CH318B) with the LA intake pattern to put on my 408 build. everything it a bit rough around the edges but I kind of expected this and dont mind a little porting to clean them up.

Problem comes in when I was overlaying the intake gaskets to get an idea of what work I need to do. The intake runners significantly off!! The bolt holes seem to be in the right spot... where the gasket would rest on the china walls seems to line up with bolt holes... even the water ports dont look like theyre correct.. (not shown)

1736010772672.png

1736010792374.png


However, the gasket lines up just fine with the intake (7576 RPM air gap). If I bolt the two together, you can see the intake has a significant mismatch, similar to the gasket but not as extreme id say.... (not shown)

1736010824875.png


I called up EQ, and they said Id have to run the magnum style gaskets as the port is raised and likely some porting. However, that wouldn't solve the intake mismatch....

Has anyone seen this before? Is this a common thing if running magnum style heads? Or did I get some junky EQ heads?

Id prefer not porting the intake specifically for these magnum heads.... but im ok with modifying the heads to work with LA intakes..
 
As a point of reference……..
On a stock 596 head, I put a straight edge against the bottom of two intake bolts and scribed a line at that point on the port center divider.
That line is 1.135 from the bottom of the head.
The bottom of the intake ports are .400 from the bottom of the head, top of ports 1.530 from bottom of head.

IMG_3768.jpeg
 
Gasket centered on bolt holes on 596 head…….


Looks like the EQ head has the bolt holes too low……..combined with the ports being higher.

From the bottom of the gasket opening to the bottom of the head is .325
From the top of the gasket opening to the bottom of the head is 1.580
IMG_3769.jpeg
 
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The gasket I am using in my pictures is the one that came OFF of my setup that was home ported 596 heads with factory 4 barrel intake. Everything lines up fine there.

And when I lay that gasket on the EQ heads, shows way off...

Im going to get some magnum gaskets later today and see how they line up.

Im just trying to find out if its normalish for these ports on the "magnum style" EQ heads to be of like this or if something is way off here..

I tried searching the google machine and the forums but didnt come up with this issue anywhere else.
 
The tech at EQ also mentioned that someone years ago called in with a similar issue but was reluctant to give details as he was a circle track racer or some such. But apparently with the magnum gaskets, supposedly that solved it, or the guy found another solution, who knows.

Talking with another mopar friend of mine, he says the ports should just about line up perfect, neglecting any production casting variation of course.
 
If you do what I did with a couple bolts and a straight edge and make the line, that will as least tell you if the bolt holes are lower than “stock”.
 
With the gaskets in place, and setting the manifold on…….how well are the manifold bolt holes centered on the bolt holes in the heads?

A question…….are these old school NZ EQ’s or newer Chinese made EQ’s?
 
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My eq heads on my Dakota did not have anything like that. Wow that's bad
 
PRH said:
With the gaskets in place, and setting the manifold on…….how well are the manifold bolt holes centered on the bolt holes in the heads?

A question…….are these old school NZ EQ’s or newer Chinese made EQ’s?
Click to expand...
Them things sure look like the dark colored china castings
 
I’m trying to understand how a different gasket is going to help with the port misalignment of the intake manifold.

I assumed they were the Chinese version, but figured I’d ask.
 
PRH said:
With the gaskets in place, and setting the manifold on…….how well are the manifold bolt holes centered on the bolt holes in the heads?

A question…….are these old school NZ EQ’s or newer Chinese made EQ’s?
Click to expand...
Newer chinese ones.


4spdragtop said:
So LA style heads but they recommend magnum gaskets?
Click to expand...
They're magnum heads that are supposed to be drilled for LA intakes. But something isn't lining up...
 
Another thought has occured to me... what if the deck surface wasn't machined all the way? and the intake bolt holes are then machined referenced on the deck surface... that would then move everything up into alignment...

I need to find a way to measure against a production magnum head and check if thats where this error is coming from.
 
I don’t think the intake will even bolt on. Do you have a short block you can place the heads on and mock the intake up. No way those holes are lining up.
 
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