Posted by Peter Hewko on Wednesday, October 02, 2002 at 3:07PM :
I have a freshly overhauled 318 that I’ve put into a ’52 M37 project. Engine seems to work great; develops 40-50 psi oil pressure. The engine now has about 20 total minutes on it; mainly backing out of one garage, onto a trailer and into another garage. During this time, the thermostat apparently never opened and the engine overheated (thermostat just barely started to crack open at 210 degrees when tested after the fact). I removed about 8 quarts of milky oil/water from the oil pan this past weekend. There did not appear to be any oil contamination in the coolant when that was drained.
Assuming I’d blown a head gasket, I started tearing into the engine last night. When I removed the intake, there was uncontaminated coolant on both gaskets and on the bottom of the intake. Seemed like more coolant than should’ve been there for removing the intake. Since the engine sat for three days with the coolant drained before I removed the intake, I’m now thinking that I may have blown an intake manifold gasket. Is this possible? Engine has an aluminum intake manifold on it if that makes any difference. I’d rather not tear into the engine any farther than necessary; should I put new intake gaskets on and not bother pulling the heads? Is there a way to check the metal intake manifold gaskets to tell if that is where my problem lies? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Peter Hewko
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