I am not selling them. just making an extra to trade someone for some tools. I would certainly require that a signature be made on a form stating that. I would never want to put myself at risk like that no matter who I'm dealing with even for a trade...never know these days. thanks for the heads up.

Holes drilled and ready for CNC. Will pick up gasket on saturday and start drawing things up on monday and get into mastercam. Hope to have them finished by wednesday so I can start the install next weekend! Sorry to all you guys that have seen this so many times but it's fun to share with people that know what the deal is!

 

Are you going to upload that mastercam file after you get it finished?

 

liability for what? its an aluminum block off plate just like any other blockoff plate with holes in it for the bolts to seal it up? not exactly rocket science.... and really not needed.

If you dont have the extra money why even put an aluminum one in there? I hope your not expecting a performance boost.... the real reasons the stock gaskets blow out is the damn bolts were too long and bottom out in the intake before applying enough pressure to sandwich the gasket in place....you can go get yourself a washer or two for each stock bolt and a gasket and be done with There is absolutly no data or evidence here of anyone having a stock plate fail in some way just the damn gasket because they were too loose from the factory! Dodge admits that in a TSB. is an aluminum one better?... sure... but not really in a useful real world measurable way unless you going to be pushing some serious pressure into the intake? truth is normally there's a vacum in there with negative pressure not positive so even the thickness of the metal around the gasket area doesnt really have any bearing as far as I can tell..

 

very good point augiedoggy. I agree based on what I've read too that the bolts are in fact the problem. That's a classic example of an engineer thinking he can function as a mechanical designer. A classic pitfall and I know very few exceptions to this rule!!! 15 years doing mechanical design has clearly shown me this. I'm not expecting increased performance in a plenum plate out of aluminum. I'm am expecting no oil getting in there though. I have aluminum readily available and it's faster/easier/free rather than cutting a steel plate or buying a replacement steel plate. As far as a disclaimer, I still think it's wise to have someone sign something. my reasoning: In today's world, 1 in 4 people will be involved in a lawsuit. I'm trying to protect myself from that. If it sounds stupid to you so be it but it's important to me and if somebody wants to trade me a set of tools for the plenum plate, they WILL sign the release or the deal won't be made. It's simple as that!

 

I will upload the file if I can barter off the second plate that I'm making.
Off to pick up felpro gasket!

 

Indulge us. What is your degree in and what is your occupation?

 

do you have this digitized? if not I would be more than willing to share a dxf file with you. we waterjetted ours so the flat pattern is all I have (no mastercam cut file). pm me if interested.

as far as aluminum, some have mentioned the expansion contraction rates of similar metals. this is a valid point of consideration but am not sure it makes or breaks the functionality (surely cant hurt).
thanks for sharing
Doug

 

I have a associates in machine technology worked as a machinist for 3 years and then worked in mechanical design for 15 years. I work in the aerospace dept for virginia tech as a senior mechanical designer. I appreciate the offer for the .dxf file but i'll be fine without it. I will share the files with you guys on the df since everyone has been so helpful. Just let me know who needs it and keep me in mind for the extra plate i'm making. Thanks guys.

 

Woodtrucker,
What is your professional opinion on the theory of the dissimiliar metals being the issue here and different expansion and contraction rates being the cause of the gasket failures despite Dodges admission and claim the issue was in the plenum bolt length? I believe in this case its a non issue myself like in many other cases where aluminum and steel are paired up together.
I also believe the reason the hughes plate seemed to solve the problem permanently was because the aluminum plates were thicker making the bolt length a non issue.. I think the aluminum plate cant hurt and if anything is stronger, I just dont believe its really necessary and is made out to be more of a needed thing than it really is here.

As far as signing a waver for selling the plate, Yes your call I'm just saying I think its unnecessary. I would think it would just be easier to put it in a box stating use at your own risk and sell it as a plate of aluminum claiming it to be nothing more.... what the buyer does with it is his or hers own responsibility....If I buy a peice of lumber or mechanics wire at the hardware store I'm expected to be responsible for proper use and installation no wavers required...

 

I've pulled the thermal expansion properties of the following.
Just a quick internet search yielded that 400 series stainless is typically used for automotive exhausts although I'm relying solely on the internet search which may or may not be accurate.
The CTE range for sand cast aluminum is defined from 200-800 series sand cast aluminum which i'm assuming will cover the mopar half kegger.
400 series stainless would refer to mopar steel stamped plenum although I'd be surprised if they used something expensive like stainless steel versus mild steel. Since it's magnetic my guess i mild steel and I'll go with HSLA (high strength low alloy) since it is typical of stamped steel parts in automotive.

Grade: 200-800 series sand cast aluminum (kegger),
CTE: 24.7-25.5 µm/m-°C
source: matweb.com

Grade: 6061 (pplate)
CTE: 25.2 µm/m-°C
Source: matweb.com

Grade: 7075 (pplate)
CTE: 25.2 µm/m-°C
Source: matweb.com

Grade: 400 series stainless
CTE: 9.2-18.2 µm/m-°C
Source:matweb.com

Grade: HSLA Steel (probably the stock plate material)
CTE: 12.4 µm/m-°C
Source: aksteel.com

with this info my professional opinion is that the closer the expansion rate, the better, ESPECIALLY if you have orings or gaskets between parts. So in this case, going to an aluminum plate definitely achieves consistent expansion rates on both plate and intake. That is great but it doesn't matter which material you use if the bolts bottom out due to a shallow blind hole/bolts that are too long then you are gonna lose.In defense of Mopar, it's pretty easy to overlook a shallow hole in design but I'm not going to go as far as to say that is acceptable when we pay so much for a vehicle. I'm sure this is more than you guys want to hear on the topic (see my other posts regarding competency).

This is not new news to a lot of folks on here but it was fun to research considering the fever/cold chills/aches that came down on me today!