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Coolant leak

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Old Feb 17, 2017 | 10:58 PM
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Default Coolant leak

recently woke up this 73 350 4 speed. I have been slowly working through its various issues. Just noticed coolant leak on top of engine passenger side under the distributor. Picture below. Kind of hard to see but it's there just under the rear portion of the valve cover.

I assume its the the intake manifold gasket? Think that sounds right? This appears to be the only place I see a leak and it pools in that spot.

If intake manifold gasket. Any special considerations I should be aware of when replacing?

Thanks for the help.
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Old Feb 17, 2017 | 11:04 PM
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I don't remember every bolt in a SBC, and which are wet and not, but that almost looks like it could be coming from the intake manifold bolt. Pull it out and see if coolant comes out. If so, drain it down enough to get it to stop, add a thread sealant and reinstall it. If that's not it, yeah, its gonna be an intake gasket replace....
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Old Feb 17, 2017 | 11:12 PM
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Originally Posted by USAFVeteran
I don't remember every bolt in a SBC, and which are wet and not, but that almost looks like it could be coming from the intake manifold bolt. Pull it out and see if coolant comes out. If so, drain it down enough to get it to stop, add a thread sealant and reinstall it. If that's not it, yeah, its gonna be an intake gasket replace....
Im not a betting man, i dont have a lucky face but i would vote bolt not gasket on this one....
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Old Feb 17, 2017 | 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by The13Bats
Im not a betting man, i dont have a lucky face but i would vote bolt not gasket on this one....

Yes sir, that's my first impression, when I saw it
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Old Feb 17, 2017 | 11:50 PM
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I agree it probably is the bolt. Clean the area up real good and add thread sealant as USAF suggests. BTW, I notice that you don't have any ignition shielding in place. That particular bolt is the same one used to hold the right side top shield bracket.
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Old Feb 18, 2017 | 09:28 AM
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Thanks for the help I will check the bolt.
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Old Feb 18, 2017 | 09:30 AM
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Tooch, you are correct there is no shield. That is on the list (unfortunately a very long list) of things I need.

Last edited by qazxsw; Feb 18, 2017 at 09:30 AM.
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Old Feb 18, 2017 | 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by qazxsw
Tooch, you are correct there is no shield. That is on the list (unfortunately a very long list) of things I need.

Believe me I know what it's like to try to fix/replace things that previous owners and others have replaced,repaired or just totally omitted from the car. Every time I look under the hood of my car no matter how much work I've done to get things as correct as possible I still find some little detail or item that needs addressed. But then again that's what makes our hobby so much fun
Tooch
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