Hey fellas,

I built an L98 a few months back, with AFR heads (1037) and an LT1 intake. The engines finally back in the car, and I've been installing all the little bits and pieces (accessories, starter, etc), and I'm a bit worried that I might have to take it all back off.

I'm sort of new to building small-blocks, but I thought I knew that the heads were universal, that they were drilled with accessory holes so that there wasn't a left or right they could go on either side. Well I think I might have been wrong. When I bolted up the LT1 intake I noticed that the coolant ports on the back of the engine (where the coolant nipples were on the LT1 intake) were rather rough and hadn't been machined--just a rough cast look (and possibly completely closed off!) I didn't really think that much about it--didn't even consider that I may have installed them backwards, but now that I'm getting closer to ignition, I'm kind of worried that I may have installed the heads backwards and may have to yank the heads.



SO....I guess the question is, am I screwed or what?

Thanks for any input!

 

heads are universal and can go on either side.

 

Thanks for the response, that's what I thought, but why do the front coolant passages seem so much more open? It's been ~4 months since I bolted it back together, and thinking back on it they weren't machined, but it looked like it would flow a bunch more.

 

the front coolant passages are more open on the heads or intake? typically the rear coolant passages on intakes are completely blocked off and not needed.

 

On the heads. The intake doesn't have coolant passages in the front, and is only tapped for coolant in the rear.

I think I'll contact AFR on monday to see what's up, and maybe pop the intake off and get some pics of the passages front and rear.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I just found out that rushing to build my last engine I put the intake gasket on backwards. Thats right the sides with the little pin holes on my TBI engine were at the front of the engine. The coolant was flowing from the back, under the TBI, through the intake, to the thermostat housing. Never even noticed it driving around. Engine never got over 200 degrees even pulling a trailer with the A/C on.