I am brand new to this forum and recently purchased a 68 Barracuda Notchback. It came with an LA360, which included a high rise single plane intake and double pumper Holley Carb. I swapped these out to be a little more street friendly. Now has an Edelbrock Performer intake (2176) and AVS2 650 carb (1906) and happy with the streetability so far. Biggest issue I have is the thermo housing/water neck leaking. Unfortunately, Edelbrock has provided zero help suggesting a recommended thermo housing and thermostat setup and actually told me that this is a known issue. I then contacted Jegs, Summit, etc. to get a recommendation and the consensus has been this set up based on similar past customer setups/issues. Billet Specialties Thermostat Housing (90820) and Mr Gasket Hi-Flow thermostat (4366). Issue is the thermo does not sit flush in housing so the set up does not work whatsoever. I suspect that the leak is due to the double bolt pattern on the intake. I doubled up a couple gaskets and used gasket sealer but the secondary bolt option on the intake sits right on the edge of the gasket and I suspect that is the reason for the leak. Any suggestions here would be a huge help before I pull all my hair out. I want to do this right and do not want to saturate this thing with sealer, silicone, etc.
Use the Billet specialties housing and the correct size stat and you should be fine. I fought a leaking housing forever until I bought the Billet Specialties housing. I'll check t-stat number I have when I get home.
