intake manifold gasket tips

[Hozer 88GTConv]

Hey Dark,
I thought I had read about your gasket issue some time ago. At the time, I was convinced I had a bad oil ring since wet/dry comp checks were good.
Tell me, did you put any silicone on the upper surface (i.e. the manifold side) of the 1262's around the front water jacket ports or front intake ports or just the gasket to head side? I have read where guys have done it both ways, but I don't want to screw up the gasket by putting RTV on the upper surface if it is not needed or will screw up the seal.
Thanks again.

[Dark_5.0]

I coated the entire underside of the gasket with silicone and stuck it to the head. On the side of the gasket facing up I put a little silicone around the water ports.

I had to be very careful torquing down the intake or one side would be higher than the other and mess up the seal.

If I were you I would just run a trickflow intake that will match up better with the heads.

Good luck.

[Hozer 88GTConv]

Well, it's back together and no leaks. In fact, I don't want to jinx myself but it's running very nicely. No puffs of smoke or anything.
The real test will be tomorrow after a 80 mile round trip commute, then I'll pull the plugs, read them and see what's up.
For the record, I used liberal amounts of Permatex Hylomar on the gasket to head side and gobbed a serious amount of rtv under the intake ports and folded the head gasket reference tabs down to ensure no interference.
I torqued the intake in two steps, 15 lbs, then 24 lbs in the recommended criss-cross pattern as per the Mustang Handbook.
I will freak out if this turns out to be the problem all this time.

If number 5 doesn't foul, then I'm home free and supercharger bound.
Thanks again...