I have an 86 IROC that had a 350 TPI motor swap in it before I bought the car. I have had a coolant leak for the past year and a half...replaced the thermostat and housing and hoses, still leaking. Started to tear down to the intake to check the gasket, and the front two bolts, nearest the thermostat housing, holding the intake down were fairly loose....could I tighten these down tight and see if the leak stops or just continue to remove the intake and replace the gasket anyway...any feed back helps, thanks.

 

Here's another picture of my tear down...

 

I would trace the leak myself, or you can just drain all the coolant then test the intake off to take a look in the lifter valley. If there's coolant the seals are toasted and time to be replaced anyway, of not....put it back together right with a new intake gasket set and hope for the best? Its a fairly easy ordeal just be sure to use the rtv properly when you put it back together

 

I have already drained all the coolant to below the intake. The leak is coming from directly under where these loose screws are. Do you think that if I tightened them down the leak would stop? I think I may try this first before pulling the intake. If it doesn't work, I will tear it down again and replace the gasket. I'm just curious if just tightening the screws down for the front of the intake will stop the leak since that's exactly the spot where its coming from. Any responses help. Thanks guys.

 

I took the thermostat housing off last night so I could get to the two loose screws. The inner one tightened nicely, and the outer one just spins. I removed the screw and found the previous owner had used RTV to screw this screw in because it was stripped out...seriously...RTV on an intake screw...any recommendations on how to get this to screw down? Maybe I may have to tap it and install a slightly larger screw?