I have antifreeze leaking out from around the headbolt on an LA 360. It is the bolt on the outside directly below the center exhaust port. The heads are 2.02 J heads. The motor only has about 500 miles on it and this issue just started.It appears to be leaking out just under the head of the bolt. Any ideas?

Probably head casket or cracked head.

I've had this type of leak on small blocks before. Usually it leaks to the outside and dosen't get into the engine and cause any harm, but it is annoying. What type of head gaskets did you use? The best fix is obviously to replace the gasket. It is important as you probably know to make sure that the bolt holes in the block are clean all the way to the bottom of the hole. If the block and heads have been milled a lot it is possible that some bolts are bottoming out before full torque is reached. Naturally the surface of the block & heads must be as clean as possible. Fel Pro has a torquing procedure that isn't stated on their gasket packages, but is available from their tech line. Now that I've started using it I've not had anymore annoying seeps. It goes like this. Torque in the usual fashion in three steps from the center out. Wait an hour or so. Now back off the first bolt [center] at least 1/2 turn and retorque it to full torque. Repeat this for all the bolts. Wait awhile longer and do this one more time. Since your engine is still fresh you may be able to drain the coolant and retorque the leaking head without removing it. Don't just put the wrench to it, back off each bolt one at a time and retorque. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. Thats what I was thinking. I did not see any cracks in anything when I assembled it so I thought it may be the gasket. I always use Felpro and this time I used a MrGasket composite gasket. I should have known better. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks, Gerry.

I had that type leak on a fresh 340, but it stopped leaking on its own. Was not a big leak, but enough to stain the fresh paint with run marks. I got lucky that time, probably doesn't work that way often.