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Another block angle.... Could the intake be leaking and make it look like the head is leaking? I kind of doubt it....but....

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after having to do my first barrel keg intake gaskets 3x in 1 day to get it to seal.

I wager big on it is the intake gaskets.

the intake only torques to 144 inch pounds in 2 steps 72/144 no more/no less.

it just runs along the head gasket edge and puddles up. if it leaks it has 4 corners to let it in the crank case. only flows thru the front end but has 4 ports on the heads.

IIRC, they bolts maybe a torque to yield bolts and not reused. i re-used mine all 4x

nothing like the old LA intake ham fisting it tight as you can with a 3/8 ratchet/boxedend wrench.

I am wondering how the hughes ramheads with LA bolt patter seal up compaired to a mag intake bolt pattern. i have seen way tony mag intakes leak water.

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I drained the fluid from the block. There is no water in the cylinders when I pulled the head, just in the lifter galley.

So....do I dare reuse the gaskets I have then? I hate redoing everything several times and I haven't even started the motor!

How do I know if the intake has sealed before putting water in it?

Just the Rad pump tool?

I have heard people say these crosswind manifolds can leak. What is the trick to get them to seal up?

eightlitermopar

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what i see in the very first pic is a torn up intake gasket at a water port. I would not re-use a magnum intake gasket.

next pic.. the rusted water port matches the fresh rust along edge of head gasket. but shows no sign of a leak on block or gasket.

what about the head surfaces?

next pic.. thats a nasty gash/nick/crack/something?/ in the block on #6 hole.

also looks like you can follow rusted water trail up along block/head gasket edge to water port around #7 hole.

again,I wager intake water leak and flash rusting.

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after the gasket is off....

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after the gasket is off....

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I see what looks to be where the water leak was. zoom in around the water port and oil passage to the LA rockers.

see the water stain bleeding over into the oil passage???

oil pressure with no where to go most likly wicked/seeped over to the water passage. IMO

gasket with no hole would be a better seal here, it wont let oil to both edges/sides of gasket blocking off the oil PSI

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LA head gaskets work fine on magnum heads. even if the hole is in the gasket, it dead-ends to nothing on the head surface. I had no issues using the Mr. Gasket LA head gasket on my magnum. I'd put my on the intake manifold leaking. maybe upgrade to some good grade 5 or grade 8 bolts for the intake manifold to be able to tighten down better?

I didn't have any problems, but I had redrilled my heads to LA bolt pattern and ran an LA edelbrock air gap on my magnum heads.

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after the gasket is off....

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I see what looks to be where the water leak was. zoom in around the water port and oil passage to the LA rockers.

see the water stain bleeding over into the oil passage???

oil pressure with no where to go most likly wicked/seeped over to the water passage. IMO

gasket with no hole would be a better seal here, it wont let oil to both edges/sides of gasket blocking off the oil PSI

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LA head gaskets work fine on magnum heads. even if the hole is in the gasket, it dead-ends to nothing on the head surface. I had no issues using the Mr. Gasket LA head gasket on my magnum. I'd put my on the intake manifold leaking. maybe upgrade to some good grade 5 or grade 8 bolts for the intake manifold to be able to tighten down better?

I didn't have any problems, but I had redrilled my heads to LA bolt pattern and ran an LA edelbrock air gap on my magnum heads.

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I would agree with that also.

why would the oil passage be rusted if it was not leaking water into it?

it does look like a water stain on the block at the water port/oil passage to me. leading me to think head gasket leak.

if it was only the intake gasket leaking it would not have rust in the oil passage.

looking at the pics,I see rust/water/tracks high in the corner at head gasket edge by #7 cyl leading me to an intake gasket.



I would be more worried about rust in the oil passage. sure sign of water to me.

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Is this the passage we are talking about?

I have not had any oil in the motor yet.

I have reorderd some MR. Gasket head gaskets to replace these ones. However, there was no water in the cylinders. The water in the pictures is from the heads themselves when removed.

I will have a rad pressure tool this weekend to see if there are any leaks before I put fill the block with water again...

I don't know really what to do at this point, other than that...

The head bolts are the correct ones.

The intake bolts are grade 8, so I am not worried about reusing them.

I really agree that the culprit here is a leaking intake. When I reassemble, I may opt to eliminate the rear and front gasket and just do a smear of silicone or equivalent.

Any other ideas?

eight

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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.

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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.

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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

eight.