Fox Trick Flow Lower Leaks Antifreeze Next To Distributor

[89jrs50]

Have a antifreeze leak next to water neck and distributor on my 331 with Trick Flow upper and lower intake, any help would be nice

 

[mikestang63]

did you use a gasket or RTV on the front china wall? It is leaking from there or the thermostat.

Pics would be nice.

 

[Jason 302]

Check the by-pass hoses also. They run from the water pump to the thermostat housing and also from the water pump to the heater pipe. Check upper radiator hose and thermostat housing gasket. If those aren't it, it may be coming from the intake gasket manifold which means you will have to take your intake manifold off. I always swab some RTV sealant around the coolant port of the cylinder head when installing new intake gasket.

 

[bigc2330]

I had the same problem and re did the gasket multiple times. I was using the factory length bolts that were on the water-neck and original manifold. My problem was the bolts holding the water-neck on were too long (they appear to be tight against the manifold, but they were also bottoming out.) I added a few washers temporarly, re-torqued and no more leak.

 

[89jrs50]

did you use a gasket or RTV on the front china wall? It is leaking from there or the thermostat.

Pics would be nice.

gaskets

 

[mikestang63]

gaskets

throw the china rail gasketsin the garbage

What I do- Take your intake gaskets- i recommend the felpro 1250S3 with the steel core inserts and use some spray tack on the head side and lay them on the heads- i do not put any RTV around the water jackets unless you use 1262s3 as the water jacket openings on those gaskets are larger- use a very light smear around the water jacket. I then lay a nice fat bead of right stuff on the front and back china walls and in the corners where the intake gaskets meet the china wall ,. Let it set up. Take some threaded rod and screw one each corner of the heads where the lower intake bolts down as a guide so you can lower the intake down. Once you have the lower intake on, hand install the other bolts and then remove the threaded rod and install the remaining intake bolts. Then snug them all up and walk away for 30 minutes. Come back and then torque the lower bolts in 2 stages to 18-22 ft lbs. Walk away for another 30 minutes or so and then go back over the bolts once more to ensure they did no tback out. Do not overtorque them as that will cause the gaskets to squish and leak.

 

[Boostedpimp]

What mikestang63 said is how I do mine except I don't torque to spec anymore. I had a bolt snap flush with the block while torqueing to spec once and it ruined me as it was a big pita to get out. So now I torque down hand tight and allow some time then torque again and for the next day or so of heat cycles' or run time I recheck those bolts. Have swapped intakes a few times on my foxes since switching to this method and have had zero issues.

I have had issues with leaks by the thermostate housing like you seem to be having. I ended up using right stuff instead of a gasket and that cured the problem