Alright here we go. I have an H22a and installed a thermal intake gasket. Now I have a huge vacuum leak and cant seal it up. I cleaned both mating surfaces with a green roloc disc, went to install the IM (I cant find the torque spec or sequence) so on a hunch I went with top to bottom alternating from center out starting at about 7 lb/ft on the first attempt and went tighter and tighter all the way cinched down pretty tight. I did this procedure five times and it's still leaking. If anyone can tell me what i'm doing wrong I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Does anyone have the correct torque sequence and lb/ft ?

 

You sure you got every little bit of old gasket off? It's only 16lb-ft for the IM bolts and you don't need to go in sequence, I didn't when installing my Euro R IM and Hondata gasket, no leaks. Not sure though if they'll leak from being reused since you have removed yours once, I know OEM ones will leak if you reuse them.

 

Yeah i'm pretty positive, I went over both surfaces with a wire wheel twice, but I will check again. Also I've read a couple people using OEM gaskets along with the thermal one to stop a leak, any truth to this? BTW I ordered all new gaskets from the local dealership; IM, upper and lower IAB plate, TB and injector seal rings. So I'll be replacing everything on tuesday if I can't find a way to seal this up. Also thanks for the reply I appreciate it.

 

What brand is yours? Possible manufacturing defect? Mine is Hondata, Rosko sent it with the IM package I bought from him.

 

It's one of Roskos and I E-Mailed him first to see if he's seen or heard anything like this. Haven't heard back from him yet but it's only been a day a half so we'll see.

 

Well got an E-Mail back from Shawn (great customer service - gotta love owners that care) and while typing my response to his questions the thought hit me, the stud holes in the gasket were very tight to get over the studs and i'm wondering if the "stop ring/band" (if thats what its called) which is slightly bigger than the stud itself is keeping the gasket from sealing. So tomorrow I'm going to drill out the stud holes a little to see if that helps. Any thoughts, comments or concerns are welcome.

 

Word up, sorry for no posts I a week but "when duty calls". Any way after going through the every thing with Shawn I couldn't fix the problem so I removed the thermal gasket and went to put everything back together with an OEM gasket and the threads of one of the back bolts for the upper half of the IM blew out (no I didn't over tighten them) so I put a Heli Coil in and noticed a crack in the bottom of the IAB plate. so I ordered a new one and am gonna retry the thermal gasket and hope for the best. I'll post the results as soon as I get it installed.

 

Well that may be your vacuum leak right there.

 

i ended up getting extended studs due to my nuts not completely being on the stud when tightened. one stud even ended up stripped. the extended studs fixed my problem. also use some rtv around the coolant chambers

 

Well got the new spacer plate, installed it and it started up and purred like a kitten. Big shout out to Shawn/ Rosko Racing! He was very helpful and also seemed a little bummed when I thought it was his gasket causing the problem. But I have the thermal gasket installed now and every things running awesome. Great customer support, thanks for reppin the H!