yes thats the hole I see with rust. water had to be in there...that is the oil feed up the block to the LA heads with shaft/rockers
should be no water or rust in that passage even if it only flash rust it had to have been leaking water into the oil passage somewhere. I would think.
I zoom in on the pic and can see a slight stain that looks like a water path to the oil passage-- across from the gash in the block deck surface to the right.
explane the rust in this passage first before going back together would be my advice.
it has nothing to do with the intake gaskets leaking IMHO.
Hmm....I see that. It's hard to say. I have been putting this motor together carefully for the last 4-5 months...literally. A little here and a little there...as time allows.
I did pressure wash the bare block, I did dry it off with the air gun, but the block was upside down for a while in the shop after this. Maybe that is where the water settled from that?
All I can do is speculate at this time. I honestly don't know. This is my first motor done entirely by me....so it's been a learning process. All my other motors have been big blocks too...so this is foreign to me.
Sincerly thanks to everyone for helping me along!
As far as that gash goes, it was present when I pulled the head. It was all stock from ma mopar at that point. It held good pressure prior to disassembly, even with that being so close to the sealing ring area.
I thought a little JB weld or something to level it off? Where it worked before, I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize what worked before.
I will have some time tomorrow and I am expecting my new head gaskets. I will carefully reassemble and see what my rad pressure test tells me this weekend.
It sucks I had to redo stuff, but I am glad I found it this way instead of tearing up a new cam because of water in the oil
