Wounded bullet

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moparracer

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I'm bummed and need to vent. Water leaks suck. I think I'll get a volkswagen, air cooled no water.
I have been fighting a "small" internal water leak this year. The engine has been apart twice for inspection with no signs of any kind of anything.
At first i noticed "milk" in the valve covers but none in the oil.(?) Resealed the motor. Seemed to go away, for a run.
Apart comes the motor again, and this time I pressure checked the heads with no signs of any leakage. New gaskets again and it worked well for a few weeks.
I went to start it this morning to warm it up to adjust the valves because i am "supposed " to be racing tonight and it WOULDN'T TURN OVER! :x
WTF i said. Started pulling plugs and wala #3 cylinder FULL of water. @#%!!@#$.
Apart comes the motor again to find the crack.

Excuse me I have some beer to drink.
 
sorry man, I can't say I know what that is like but I sympathize. I just dropped 3500 into building my 360 and if anything was to break, I would ****. I feel ya and good luck
 
Common problems.head bolts loosing their strength,crack in the head or in the seat,look of rust marks and have it maged.Warpege in the block or head,nitrous use,if you use it.Heads could be ported to the max and a crack in the port.Mrmopartech
 
Mrmopartech said:
Common problems.head bolts loosing their strength,crack in the head or in the seat,look of rust marks and have it maged.Warpege in the block or head,nitrous use,if you use it.Heads could be ported to the max and a crack in the port.Mrmopartech

New headbolts, freshly decked heads and block, new head gaskets, no nitrous ever, and mildly ported heads. I either have a cracked head or block, either way it sucks this late in the season. Time to upgrade.
 
That sucks Joe. Sorry to hear that . These things are supposed to be fun . That is what I had to keep telling myself when I was having trans troubles in the spring. This is fun, this is fun ....wrong, driving them is fun. Always wrenching on them sucks!
The new .020 over 400 for next summer.
img10752bi.jpg

picture0178sk.jpg
 
fastback383 said:
That sucks Joe. Sorry to hear that . These things are supposed to be fun . That is what I had to keep telling myself when I was having trans troubles in the spring. This is fun, this is fun ....wrong, driving them is fun. Always wrenching on them sucks!
The new .020 over 400 for next summer.
img10752bi.jpg

picture0178sk.jpg

If you want you can ship that 400 short block here and I'll break it in for you. I'll be real gentle with It promise. :twisted:
 
Iron or aluminum heads? I did a set of heads to replace a set of 915s that only leaked when hot. Pressure checking doesnt reveal everything.
If Iron heads: It's fairly comon to have a coolant leak from under a replaced seat, if they cut too deep. Have the heads completely stripped, and magnaflux them. Pay attention to the inside of the exh ports. Any rust in any of the ports?
If Aluminum: Take them completely apart, have them put in the pressure checker, and pressurize them to 50-60 psi. That should be high enough to start a seep if there is a crack. I found many shops that only test to like 15-20psi, because "that's where they run at...". A higher test pressure will force things out more. Again, pay close attention to the seat areas and guide ares. It wouldnt surprise me if you have a leaking seat or crack in #3. Especially if it was bad enough to hydraulic it.
 
moper said:
Iron or aluminum heads? I did a set of heads to replace a set of 915s that only leaked when hot. Pressure checking doesnt reveal everything.
If Iron heads: It's fairly comon to have a coolant leak from under a replaced seat, if they cut too deep. Have the heads completely stripped, and magnaflux them. Pay attention to the inside of the exh ports. Any rust in any of the ports?
If Aluminum: Take them completely apart, have them put in the pressure checker, and pressurize them to 50-60 psi. That should be high enough to start a seep if there is a crack. I found many shops that only test to like 15-20psi, because "that's where they run at...". A higher test pressure will force things out more. Again, pay close attention to the seat areas and guide ares. It wouldnt surprise me if you have a leaking seat or crack in #3. Especially if it was bad enough to hydraulic it.

Mildly ported 915's with no hardened seats. It should be fairly easy to find this time because it filled the cylinder when cold. Don't know about the rust because I haven't dug into it yet.
I hope it is the heads and not the block because if it is the block I am starting over because this is a +.060 engine and I don't want to take one of my spare blocks to +.060 right off the bat.
I would like to make a head upgrade anyways but just didn't plan on doing it this soon.

Thanks Ron, it is a lot nicer when it holds water. You have some very nice cars there yourself.
 
sorry to here that your engine gives you trouble, have a beer calm down relax and then give it another try. just dont give up!!
 
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