Performer 351 and the Turkey Pan

The Edlebrock Performer does have the exhaust heat crossover. The turkey pan was designed by Ford to prevent the accumulation of ash in the motor by keeping the motor oil off the hot crossover on the bottom of the intake.

Is it really needed? That's something people will debate. I know a lot of guys that don't use it. Modern oils have a lot less ash in them than they did in 1969 when the 351C went into production. I prefer to play it safe and not disable something that was engineered for a purpose. Obviously intakes without the exhaust heat crossover do not need the turkey tray.

cowboy from hell

If you remove the turkey pan from an intake manifold with the exhaust heat crossover (ala Performer) you will find yourself scratching your head wondering why your engine consumes so much oil.

Leave it in there! Regardless of the chemical make up of modern oils it won't hurt to leave it there, even if by some chance you don't need it. Or as my grandfather used to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?!"

Thanks guys. I'll plan on keeping the turkey pan.

Hmmmm, I have been wondering why my car drinks so much oil. It isn't dripping out, and it doesn't seem to be coming out the tail pipes. Maybe I don't have this mysterious turkey pan, but need it.

Evidence that may support this theory, or may be meaningless: the engine diesels when I turn off the key (but only when I run pump gas) and if I don't stop it with the clutch, a surprising amount of while smoke comes out the air cleaner. Is that burning oil in the manifold?

Sorry, I didn't mean to highjack the thread, but it looked the Johns problem was solved. :-)

R.

quote:

If you remove the turkey pan from an intake manifold with the exhaust heat crossover (ala Performer) you will find yourself scratching your head wondering why your engine consumes so much oil.

HUH!!??

Is this to say the only good seal you can get between block and heads is with a turkey tray?

I guess it is just an amazing run of luck that so many other "V" design engines somehow manage to get a seal without one?

Yes, a bad head gasket seal will allow oil to get sucked into cylinders. But there is nothing special about the sealing abilities of a turkey pan gasket.

And if the oil consumption is due to it being burned off on the hot underside of the intake manifold - the only other way I can figure out what you mean by "consumes so much oil", I think the old ash on the manifold bottom is an old wives tale.

I removed my manifold last Winter, about 28K miles on the engine. No turkey tray but somehow, amazingly, no ash. None, zero, nada, zip...

Heavily milled heads will alter the mating angle of the intake to head surfaces = possible bad seal = oil sucked and burned. Cheap gasket will fail = oil sucked and burned. Failure to toss the cork or rubber end valley gaskets in favor of high quality RTV silicone = obnoxious oil leak.

It IS a personal choice, for a lot of reasons. But I.M.H.O., a perfectly good sealed, non oil-consuming engine is not dependent on using a turkey tray.

YMMV

Larry

...I Run NO Turkey Pan! And NO Gaskets with My Weiand Manifold! (it Has NO Heat Crossover) I Just use 'Permatex Form a Gasket/ 2B from the tube. NO Oil Leaks, NO Vacuum Leaks, NO Loss of Oil and NO Smoke out the Tail Pipe What-So-Ever!! Why?? Because The Ports line-Up PERFECTLY with-out Them. When I Ran the 'Torker' Manifold; Same Set-Up, the Torker HAS The CrossOver...

Here's what the Ford engineers who designed the thing had to say about the turkey tray:

quote:

Originally posted by garth66:
If you remove the turkey pan from an intake manifold with the exhaust heat crossover (ala Performer) you will find yourself scratching your head wondering why your engine consumes so much oil.

Leave it in there! Regardless of the chemical make up of modern oils it won't hurt to leave it there, even if by some chance you don't need it. Or as my grandfather used to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?!"

I agree with using the turkey pan. Without it you can suck oil into the intake ports and also leak oil out of the front and rear manifold rail area. I have tried to get away without using it and always had a problem.

...NO! I refuse to use it!! Some of us have proved you don't need it. It's junk thrown in the garbage can! You have an oil leak because you don't know how to seat a manifold!! As far as I'am concerned 'End of Story'!! Period! You guys debate it all ya want...

High oil use has many possible sources. FWIW, the 'turkey tray' is simply an oil-splash shield for the bottom of an iron intake manifold with exhaust heat risers, all integrated with the steel intake gasket- likely a Ford cost savings! Exhaust heat is high enough with the iron intake to char splashed oil so you needed a shield. They are a 1-time-use unit; not using a new one each time means you need good composite gaskets between the intake ports and the heads or you risk a vacuum leak under the intake. This can be noticed by pulling a breather and listening for sucking noises, or by a leak-down test.
For aluminum intakes with operating heat risers, we used to cut the port seals off old turkey trays and silicone them in below the 'real' intake gaskets, so you got oil-splash protection without risky sealing at the ports from shim-steel on cast aluminum- which the steel often dents. Blocking the heat risers at the ports with pieces of a steel beer can and using composite intake gaskets means the turkey tray shield can be retired with no worries.

So what is the purpose of the heat risers? To heat the manifold during warm up? Are they not necessary with an aluminum manifold? Aluminum does conduct heat much better than iron. If I elect to block them, can I just buy new rubber gaskets without buying the turkey tray? The 351c gasket set is kind of pricey for what it is.

!)- Yes, the exhaust-heat passages or risers are for quicker warm up and maybe to prevent icing when weather conditions are just right. If you don't mind waiting for a couple of minutes before starting off, and don't nail the gas for a few miles, they can be blocked. Whether its 'necessary' with aluminum intakes is a personal choice. The behavior is still the same. FWIW, the 351-C uses
-A- heat risers in the intake
-B- a bypass passage in the thermostat housing
-C- a choke on the carb,all for quicker warm up.
I have all of them blocked in our almost all-alloy engine. The engine runs fine without any warm up devices but it WILL spit back and/or die if I'm not patient with it in cold weather.
2)- the std 351C top-end-overhaul gasket set never included the turkey tray. It's too big to fit in the pkg and was always sold separately. Many guys never missed it.