ACDelco or Fel-Pro ?

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ACDelco

Fel-Pro

For lower intake manifold gasket kits. Buick 3800 V6. The ACDelco has one seal that the Fel-Pro doesn't have, but the Fel-Pro has several seals that the ACDelco doesn't have. The ACDelco has a cleaner looking application of the sealant bead on the main gaskets. The Fel-Pro looks a little sloppy with its sealant bead application. I'm assuming they have robots apply the sealant at the factory.
 
Get both and stack them on top of each other
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I've always had excellent luck with FelPro gaskets. They'd be my choice. My 454 for my truck has all FelL to gaskets and every one is top notch for fitment and finish and most importantly they all seal well.
 
Right now I have a small puddle of florescent orange coolant on the top side of the lower intake manifold. I'm assuming it's a fair warning telling me that it's time for intake gaskets. So far there hasn't been any sludge in the oil. I'm going to order the parts tomorrow if I can make up my mind which brand to go with.
 
The updated AC-Delco gaskets will last the life of any 3800 powered car at this point in time. Maybe even better with the "Green" silicone seals around the intake ports vs the raised fluoroelastomer segments/beads on the Fel-Pro.
 
"Edge- molded seals protect each port."

That is supposed to mean that the viton is molded around the edges of the water passages so that no metal is exposed to coolant.

With the Delco gaskets the viton does not wrap around the edges of the coolant ports and coolant can attack the aluminum.
 
No experience with AC Delco, but fel-pro quality is top notch and Rock auto pictures aren't always up to date. You may receive something with a different gasket maker color, part color etc. It could be less messy as well. Either way, I'd go with felpro since it replaces more things that could leak later on if old parts are reused. Considering that the prices are relatively close, you get a lot more bang for your buck with fel pro. I have their valve cover gasket in my car and I haven't seen any leaks in the past 6k miles.
 
I have used Felpro and have been happy with it. GM screwed up with the originals and I wouldn't want their "improved" one on my engine. I am sure it's fine but it's a personal thing with me. Plus they give you both styles of end seals so there's no guessing, injector seals and RTV. No need to buy the extras.
 
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I did this very job on a Le Sabre a little over a year ago. Used the Fel Pro. Excellent product and kit. If you are concerned, go to your local auto parts store and ask to look at both. They'll usually take them out of the box for you to look at. You don't have to buy it. Heck, sometimes I ask them to price match with RA with the included shipping and sometimes they do it.
 
You really stepped it up from Supertech 10w30 syn to Valvoline 5w40. Welcome to the A3/B4 darkside Merk.

Are the new AC Delo's what you have already or are they for sure updated?
 
GM made a mess of problems with manifold leaks when they made that engine.
Maybe they did not test them long enough for the problem (s) to appear.
what engine design did they have "before"
 
Last year I replaced the vc gasket on my 1996 Zetec Contour. The Fel-Pro was about $6 at that time and the Motorcarft one was around $40. The Fel-Pro looked like the factory original, fits perfectly and is leak free. Who knows, maybe they made them for Ford originally.
Whimsey
 
Hey thanks everybody!
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I ordered the Fel-Pro set. I also ordered the GM O-rings for the Dorman coolant elbows. Those O-rings are ridiculously expensive.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Hey thanks everybody!
smile.gif
I ordered the Fel-Pro set. I also ordered the GM O-rings for the Dorman coolant elbows. Those O-rings are ridiculously expensive.


Did you price GM elbows? You can take the O-ring off & install them on the Dorman elbows, You have to watch buying small parts as the assemblies may be cheaper.

New GM elbows would have lasted a long time.
 
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
GM made a mess of problems with manifold leaks when they made that engine.
Maybe they did not test them long enough for the problem (s) to appear.
what engine design did they have "before"


They also didn't do a very good job with the early Vortec line of chevrolet truck engines. I've had the intake gaskets replaced three times in 133,000 miles on my 98 chevy truck with the 5.7L vortec that I bought new. It currently has the second design Fel-pro gasket set in it. I expect that I will have to replace this set at some point since it's not the most recent design of this gasket.

Wayne
 
Fel-Pro couldn't get it right either, they had as many revisions and failures as GM. It took over 10 years and a few revisions to get it right then they discontinued the engine.
The aluminum frame GM gaskets have been great and not updated since their introduction. I had the top off an engine for a cam swap that had them installed the month they became available and they were still perfect almost 10 years later, no corrosion of the aluminum, seal softening or shifting.

Edit: The Fel-Pro are fine, it took them a while to copy GM's aluminum gasket design but they did it.
 
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Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Did you price GM elbows? You can take the O-ring off & install them on the Dorman elbows, You have to watch buying small parts as the assemblies may be cheaper.

New GM elbows would have lasted a long time.


I've got new GM elbows on order just in case something goes wrong with the Dorman elbows. I thought about taking the O-rings off the GM elbows, but I'm afraid of stretching the O-rings out. So I've got GM elbows, GM elbow O-rings, and Dorman elbows on order. I thought about having the ACDelco gaskets on order to back up the Fel-Pro gaskets, but that would be too expensive. Right now I'm giving some serious thought into going to the salvage yard to pull off a lower intake manifold. I watched some guy on YouTube pull the lower intake manifold on his car and it was completely unusable because of massive amounts of corrosion.
 
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