KB

I don't know what intake gaskets you used, so what I'm about to say may be off base.

When I set my tripower up several years ago, it was recommended that I use thick soft gaskets on the intake to head surface. I was told not to use the hard gaskets like the ones that come in most gasket sets. As a matter of fact, Edelbrock had a warning on their website about not using these hard gaskets on any of their aluminum manifolds, but I can't locate it now.

Offy actually sells special thick gaskets(part # 5305 Special) for their tripower manifolds.

I used Victor graphite impregnated gaskets(sorry, no part #, been a long time) that my local machine shop had on the shelf. They were pretty thick and very soft.

I was told to torque the manifold down in several small steps, too( more steps than you would normally). The way it was explained to me is this: The tripower(and 2x4) manifold is very stiff in the main body, but still has regular thickness flanges. This makes it easy to distort the sealing surfaces and get vacuum leaks if you're not careful, especially with hard gaskets.

This info came from Hot Rod Carburetion and they said that most of the vacuum leak problems could be traced to improper gaskets and torgue. I took their advice and mine have been trouble free for about 7 years.

Hope you get it figured out.

Mike