Had to replace the cylinder heads bought two refurbished heads along with a complete gasket set got the heads on no problem then when I got to the lower intake manifold having problems with it aliging with the heads it seems like the end gaskets are to big and not allowing the manifold to sit low enough to get the bolts in I can get one side of the bolts to line up but the other side is about an 8th of an inch off I've tried swapping them around with no luck so I put the old selas back on and everything lines up not sure what's going on it seems like the gaskets need to be compressed more but can't I've tried two different seal sets from two different manufacturers any and all help would be much appreciated

 

Forgot to add it a 1998 ram 2500

 

Are they giving you the right gaskets??

 

I had a similar experience. Thought something must be wrong, but I persevered and I'm pretty sure things are sealed, but I haven't' run the engine yet to know for sure. I just did a combination of wiggling the manifold around so I could start most of the bolts, then snugged them down a bit at a time until I could get the rest started. Then I snugged them all down in sequence until they were ready for the final torque. I think the problem is the end gaskets which are quite thick to begin with, but squash right down when torqued. Because the manifold and heads mate at an angle it's kind of scary when you can't be sure that things are seated properly.