Anti freeze leaking

[hooklinesinker]

I Just replaced the heads on my Crusader 270<br />(1987) vintage, Seems I have a slight coolant leak from the exhaust manifold. The bolts seem short 5" long 3/8 16x5 looks like only a half inch goes into head, & they strip easy. Does this sound strange? How do I correct this?

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Anti freeze leaking

are they the factory fresh water cooled log style manifolds ? if so where on the manifold is the leak.

 

[prockvoan]

Re: Anti freeze leaking

The bolts are right size,thread should go in about 1/2".The exhaust manifolds might be warped!Were is the leak?

 

[hooklinesinker]

Re: Anti freeze leaking

Originally posted by hooklinesinker:<br /> I Just replaced the heads on my Crusader 270<br />(1987) vintage, Seems I have a slight coolant leak from the exhaust manifold. The bolts seem short 5" long 3/8 16x5 looks like only a half inch goes into head, & they strip easy. Does this sound strange? How do I correct this?

 

[hooklinesinker]

Re: Anti freeze leaking

Thanks to all, <br />I spoke to a repair guy who said o remove the manifold "Again" & Valve covers ang try to re-torque the dead bolts to 65 lbs, & then re-insatll the manifold torqued to 25 lbs. He said I should get #8 bolts since I had the stripping problem, that the ones that are in there may be getting caught on a burr in the head threads.<br /><br />To answer where i it leaking seems to be in the beck port right at the gasket. or where the thred problem was. It is for sure antifreze, & yes they are A closed cooling system with raw water feeding through the jackets.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Anti freeze leaking

ok<br /> first off unless the manifold is cracked there are no coolant ports near the exhaust ports. thats why the service manual is very explicit about running a chaser tap down the threaded holes in the block. ya keep jumping from the manifold to the head. its rather confusing. the head gasket can leak if the block was not prepped properly or a head bolt hole is stripped or old sealant is causing the bolt to bottom out in the hole. the lower run of bolts on the SBC go into the cooling water passages and if the correct sealant is not used on the threads then coolant can seep past the threads and leak. thats why its so time comnsuming. the clean up and prep work usually takes twice as long as the actual assy so many techs,monkeys and shade trees tend to bypass that section of the service manual. so a leak due to a loose bolt or a stripped bolt for the manifold to head has been ruled out. leaves the block off plate at the seawater block between the manifold and the elbow assy, a leak at the head gasket or a leak at the bolt for the head. stripping a bolt in the lower run on the SBC is a common occurence. heli-coiled hundreds of them over the years. another potential leakage point on the log style manifolds is trying to reuse the copper washers under the nuts that hold the elbows to the manifolds.