[BALLSS]

^^^yep, your coolant is not coming from intake gasket

OP

If you do pull intake use FelPro "printle" intake gasket. Has the blue sealant on edges

 

[BALLSS]

finding coolant on DS of intake???

"maybe" there is a pin hole leak top DS of radiator or that hose pissing on that part of the motor

I misread and though you said PS which is why I noted the steam pipe/hose connection on that side

Is stat housing show any signs of leak??

 

[BALLSS]

There is no water flow through the intake so it can't come "from" it. If you blew a head gasket and somehow the coolant between head & block "migrated" up and through a intake bolt...just don't see how that can happen

If I understand right you see coolant with just motor running...put the injectors, etc, back on and watch wtf it may be coming from

maybe the T Stat gasket letting coolant mist/piss in that direction to land on intake...but you should be able to see that happening

if you use a pressure tester...don't go uber nuts on pressure. 15 psi max

must have been quite a gas bath with open fuel lines :-(

is it possible the injector closest to where you see what appears to be coolant gathering the O ring is bad and leaking out fuel....although that would not be green in color

weird one

 

[BALLSS]

yes use "thread sealer" on intake bolts....but I would look into the leak source further before pulling the intake

 

[BALLSS]

Got Gupcake Bearings had his Combination Motorsports ported heads go because they took a little to much port work and a hair crack developed causing coolant to enter motor. IDK how the coolant would migrate "up" from combustion chamber, through a bolt hole and appear on intake though

I thought you mentioned you can see coolant dripping with engine running...gotta be able to find that kind of leak and pulling the intake would not be involved for that

"maybe" the bolt itself just needs to be pulled and thread sealer applied if it is leaking from that intake bolt. Would only take a few min to do that one bolt

 

[BALLSS]

I may just remove those bolts without pulling the intake and use some sealer on them.

yes do that

On a stock, untouched motor, those bolts should not leak. Maybe the intake was off before and no or not enough thread sealer was used....or the bolts are just lose....are they??

Thread sealer is not RTV. Permatex makes some

 

[BALLSS]

rear top of block steam pipe ..................

if the coolant is migrating from the banjo bolts holding the steam pipe he will need 4 of these gaskets if doing both bolts (2 each)

 

[BALLSS]

maybe the T Stat gasket letting coolant mist/piss in that direction to land on intake...but you should be able to see that happening

FWIW,prior to me doing the intake,my t-stat housing and gasket were leaking a pinch, and the fan did push coolant up onto area below throttle body and linkage. Jim

I know Op said he has replaced stat & gasket not long ago....still worth checking though

Is the black T stat housing aftermarket?

 

[BALLSS]

remove the TB coolant lines bypass them see if it still leaks ...

steam pipe or the TB ...

.

BTW - I have done the coolant bypass on the TB so the hose does not go over to the TB but instead connects to the Crossover Tube on the pass side that runs to the back banjo bolts.

...and the reported coolant pooling is on DS, not PS of intake

 

[BALLSS]

Well Bob, like yourself we to can't see wtf there is coolant there. The front & rear intake bolts go into head "close" to water jacket which somehow may have developed a small crack letting coolant come up a bolt buy very unlikely

you have the drain hose mod for WP weep hole so coolant contamination into opti should not exist from that source. Yeah the vent hose runs right where your coolant pooling is but for the vent harness to drink up that much coolant and leak it there is also as far fetched

Maybe pulling the intake will reveal something but my $.02 is quite skeptical on that

There are two FelPro gasket sets. One is called "printo" which has the blue sealant around the ports. IMHO a better sealing one but the regular should be fine, especially on a stock head/intake motor

A Few intake R&R tips I found helpful

vacuum all around intake before removing it to clean up any debris that could fall into motor

Use a piece of cardboard and mark one end front. punch holes on each side and put intake bolts in order so you put the right ones back where they belong. Some have studs on them.

If intake does not just lift up when all bolts are removed (and if it does it was not sealed well) use a pry bar/big long screw driver on the front PS lip under intake manifold to pry it off. Can take some effort

cover lifter valley with rags and use rags or paper towels in head intake ports to keep the crap you will be scraping off from getting in motor

scotch brite pads help clean up the RTV

wipe the entire head & china wall areas with acetone...a few times before install of gaskets & RTV

Use Pernatex Black "ultra" RTV

Make sure all wires, etc are pulled away from the intake area so no interference when putting intake manifold back on

rehearse putting intake back on without RTV so you can best determine how you hold it and how you lean over engine bay. you want to land the intake dead nuts without sliding it forward & back which can compromise RTV seal

Run a 1/4" bead of RTV on each china wall and run it up onto the intake gasket about 1/2" each side. Let RTV sit for about 15 min.

Some use short pieces of wood dowel (pencil) on one side front & rear bolt hole as guides to drop the intake back on

let car sit for 24 hrs after intake is back on before starting so RTV can cure

Not a full tutorial but a few steps I have used (although never did use studs as guide to drop intake on) and never had one leak after.

 

[BALLSS]

using a washer on the small bolt to hold down the oil pump drive is not a bad idea

Do understand though that a old assembly top is more brittle and will crack if you put to much tq on the hold down bolt. I used a dab or blue loc-tite on the threads and a 1/4" drive to tighten.

IMHO if the cam is still stock there should be no reason to remove it

 

[BALLSS]

Bob

FelPro 1284

If you have to order the gasket set...get the "printo" seal one from Summit. I have gotten it at Autozone but long time ago

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-1284/overview/make/chevrolet

 

[BALLSS]

Not seeing anything like a crack or how coolant could come "out" of the head onto intake bolt and go "up"....thinking the coolant is landing on the area of that bolt and migrating "down" onto bolt threads

obviously you have a closer view than we do. I see that intake bolt going through the head casting into the lifter valley. "maybe" the top threads of the hole do get close to the water jacket of the head and "maybe"...but man just not seeing that from my view (limited)

from this side of the keyboard I say you just use good thread sealer on the bolts and that should seal it

I know the source of coolant is still a mystery...

 

[BALLSS]

Depending on what Metal I find at Home Depot, I may get a little creative. Thinking of tracing out the shape of the Plastic and at the round end extending out 2 Tangs. I'll then bend those over a Socket of the same dimension and it should help hold the sides together. If nothing available then a washer will work. .

I remember seeing a "cap" made of metal with 4 prongs bent down that went "over" the plastic top. IDK if it is available anymore or where it was available at one time

Tick has this though...

Tick Performance Billet Aluminum Oil Pump Drive Housing for LT1 Engines - Tick Performance, Inc.

the gear is just held on with a roll pin you punch out