Antifreeze leak from somewhere at the back of the block?

[68EFIvert]

I have been battling various oil and antifreeze leaks over the past couple months. Did I say that I am new to engine building? I have a roller block 302 with steel head gaskets. I had problems with my head studs leaking but got that taken care of. When I was done with that I put builders block in the cooling system to seal up any leftovers. I had a small seem on the rear drivers lower stud. The builders block took care of that in a matter of minutes.

When I Put on my intake manifold I did not use enough silicon sealer on the front and back of the block and eventually developed a nasty leak. I redid that last week and it doesn't seem to have any leaking problems now.

I haven't driven the car much, only about a mile now since I want to nail down these problems and a tire rubbing issue I had.

After doing the intake gasket I notice there was a antifreeze leaf somewhere at the rear of the block. It is dry by the intake and seems to be dry around the heads. I am tempted to drive it with the builders block in it for a while while watching the fluid level hoping this will correct the problem. Do you guys have any idea where the leak could be coming from. There is no fluid on the oil pan only coming out on the bottom of the bellhousing. Thanks for you help, again. To top it off I have been battling the flu for the past 4 days so the motivation to crawl under the car is not very high right now.

 

[wild goose]

Check the freeze plugs, might be a head gasket.

 

[10secgoal]

Probably the steel HG leaking. If you don't have a surface fine enough on the head, they don't like to seal. I think it needs and RA to look almost like glass to get them to seal.

 

[68EFIvert]

I really didn't want to hear it was the MLS head gaskets. If I would have known they were so tempermental I wouldn't have used it. I am tempted to just drive it for a while and see if the leak is sealed with the builders block. The machine shop says NASCAR teams use the stuff on race days. Just drop it into the radiator and go. After it gets up to temperature it will seal where it contacts air and doesn't harm the rest of the engine.

I also considered a freeze plug but I wasn't sure if there was one at the back of the engine. Are they back there or are they just on the side?

Update: It must be the head gaskets. I say this because I had the engine running in the garage without any leaks before I put the blower and AFR heads on. That eliminates a freeze plug issue.

 

[68EFIvert]

Well I just went into the garage and found the leak. It is at the back of the drivers side head. I can't catch a break with this stupid car. I am still going to see if the builders block works but with my recent luck with this thing I am not holding my breath.

 

[Tony R]

If you want to swap motors let me know. I will gladly do a 289 swap for your blown 302.

 

[TOM B]

I also run a blower but have Edelbrock heads, I had a leak that I just could not fix on the heads, I run the O ring heads and a special head gasket that has the o ring in the gasket to seal the blower pressure
After a few head gaskets at $85 bucks a piece I found out that I had the wrong dowl pins in the block, they fit the block but did not fit the edelbrock heads so the head was not centered and leaked coolant.
On your application I would not run Steel plate head gastets. If money is a problem I would run the permatorque or better yet the Titan copper gaskets.
The proper way to seal a Blown 302 Ford head is to have the block bolts drilled to 1/2 and run O-ringed heads with the special Felpro gaskets or run none O ringed heads with the Titan ICS copper gaskets.

 

[68EFIvert]

Are copper head gaskets really any better than steel? If they are is it because they only have one layer instead of 3 like my Mr Gasket MLS head gaskets?

 

[10secgoal]

1 out of 10 people can get the titans to seal, even if you follow the directions. If you want to retry those MLS, you can. But the had and deck have to be PERFECTLY straight.But at your power level I would just run the normal felpro replacements you can get at autozone, or SCE graphite gaskets. I like those. The MLS are very tough gaskets to blow. Which can be bad. They will be a very hard "fuse" to pop if you know what I mean. The pistons can go first with the HG's. The Felpros will take 400rwhp no problem, seal great and will pop if there is a problem.

 

[68EFIvert]

I think that is what I will eventually end up doing. If the builders block doesn't work, which I am not holding my breath on a head gasket, I plan on using the fel--pro 1011-2. 10secgoal is that the one you were referring to or is it another one. The only question I have on this is crush height of the hg. My gaskets are .040 the Fel-pro 1011-2 are .039 and 1011-1 are .041. Would I have to worry if I drop down to .039? My car has a custom chip if you need to know that.

Thanks for the help. I will give you a call on my next build for a turbo kit. After building this and looking at the 69 fastback you are building I have an itch for a 69 Fastback as well.

 

[68EFIvert]

If you want to swap motors let me know. I will gladly do a 289 swap for your blown 302.

I don't want to swap motors but i could show you how to take one apart and put it together. I can't guarantee it will work right though.

 

[Tony R]

I already have the motor apart. Just need to machine it and parts to put it back together. I want to wait until after paint to start putting the motor together. That way the car should be completed before the motor is ready to drop in so i dont drive a half built car. By the way i have a turbo sitting on my shelf that was supposed to go in my F150 on my 300 inline 6.

 

[10secgoal]

The 9333 PT-1 are the ones I as referring to. I THINK they are .039 crushed.
Those lasted me quite a while until I goofed off one day and had 87 in the tank.

 

[68EFIvert]

Thanks for the part number. I found them over at summit racing and they have them listed at .047 crushed. That shouln't be a problem should it. Mainly a problem if I go quite a bit smaller isn't it?

 

[10secgoal]

think you would be fine, at most a tad leaner than before. But probably splitting hairs. Can you datalog ?

 

[68EFIvert]

I don't have the ability to data log the car. Thanks for the help. I think I've got a plan now.

 

[68EFIvert]

Well I decided not to drive the car and see if it will seal up on its own. I know I don't have that kind of luck. I ordered new head gaskets 9333 pt-1's and another new intake #1250 both from Fel-Pro. i plan on starting to take the thing apart tonight and hope to have it back together by Saturday if I am really lucky. Thanks for the help 10SECGOAL!

I'll take this time to detail all the little things that got screwed up at the body shop and where I wasnn't happy to begin with. I guess the easiest things in life are not always the best! I hope this is my last post about oil and antifreeze leaks!!!!!!! My next one will most likely be "My t5 died, should I go for Gforce or TKO600?"

Darreld

 

[10secgoal]

No problem man. Haha, breaking parts ? That's the part of the build you never tell your wife about.

 

[69gmachine]

Probably the steel HG leaking. If you don't have a surface fine enough on the head, they don't like to seal. I think it needs and RA to look almost like glass to get them to seal.

I used Cometic MLS head gaskets, and unless I'm just real lucky (and I'm never lucky) they aren't very hard to make seal. I have re-used them at least 3 times now after tearing the engine down for inspection twice. The nice thing about the MLS gaskets (at least the Cometic ones) is they allow an aluminum head to seal against an iron block through repeated heat cycling. The heads were out of the box AFRs and the block was decked for clean up, but no special attention as far as I know.

 

[10secgoal]

The cometic and MLS (felpro)are the same things, except the MLS have like a thin plastic film that helps it seal. I ran them and it leaked the first time because of the block. I took a flat bar with 180 grit on it and surfaced the block in the car, and then they sealed fine. The block had a few DEEP cuts right at the water jacket in the back. You can really seal how coarse when you run a block over it. One side sealed, the other didn't.But some people have had issue after issue with them, with no luck. I know Paul uses them, and they seal as far as I know.