My car has less 1000 miles on the new engine.

I have an oil leak coming out of the aluminum intake. There are two bolt holes on both sides that are empty which I asume for a different engine application.

My question is, Is this a gasket leak? I also am getting a small puddle of antifreeze coming from the thermostat.

I did hear that aluminum intakes need to be cranked down about a half a turn more than other cast intakes.

I can take a picture if I need to.
Any advice is appreciated.

i replied to your other post about the leaky intake, but i probably wouldnt crank down too much, or more then a cast intake. i believe for most SBC manifolds (aluminum) its like 20 ft/lbs or something close to that, not much at all. im pretty sure if you go more then hand-tight you would develop a crack.

It is an Edelbrock intake.

The reason I said to tighten it about half or a quarter of turn more is because the tv show, "Trucks", the guys said this when installing one on their vehicle on the show. I really think they know what they are talking about. Or not?

On your intake bolt you should use a light coat of silicone or liquid teflon on the threads. This will help to keep oil from seeping up through the bolt holes. Hot oil will follow the threads of a bolt and come out onto the intake. Also when you tighten down the intake, start from the middle and work outward. You will want to go from side to side while doing this. If you tighten down one side and do the other side the inake may not seal as well.

You need to check the waterneck to see if the bottom of it is flat. So use a straight edge to find out. If your running a chrome O-ring style waterneck, they have a hard time sealing. They look nice, but in my opinion there junk. Also use a good thick quality gasket like Felpro and not the cheap paper ones. Also use a little silicone on the bolt threads also.

So check out a few of these things and this should get you on to the road to a clean engine. Good luck.....

bump to the top for leftyscotty