ive got and 89 tpi motor with edelrock exhaust headers. my question... is there a possibility that the bolts that hold the headers on bottomed out in the head creating a crack causing water to leak out the threads onto the ground and in the exhaust. i was hoping that perhaps like the head bolts the exhaust bolts go into the cooling jackets and just need sealant, but i cant be that lucky.

 

I've never done that, but I'm sure its a possibility with a bolt thats too long. And... they're blind holes so no, from the factory the coolant would not leak out.

 

i don't think so. i've had plenty of exhaust leaks from header gaskets not sealing and bolts coming loose. so far no coolant because of it. the only head bolts that go into the water jacket are the ones along the bottom of the head. do you have coolant in your exhaust or down the side of the block?

 

sounds like it might be a head gasket leaking... i cant think of any possible way that there would be coolant comming out of the exhaust manifold bolts. the only thing that i can think of that could happen if the car was really bottomed out, would be to warp the head a little maybe making the head gasket not seal all the way anymore (highly unlikely). but if you really bottomed out that bad you would have a lot more problems than just coolant leaks

 

The bolt bosses for those bolts DO in fact back up to the water jacket. So yeah, a crack, rust, porosity, etc. right there can cause a leak.

VERY VERY rare.

Water would not get into the exhaust from that, in any case.

What makes you think there's water in the exhaust, besides the enormous volume of it that is normally there because it's one of the major components of exhaust gas, it being the product of burning the hydrogen in the fuel?

Water on the ground would be more likely coming from a freeze plug, head gasket, or head bolt (all of which DO go directly into the water jacket and IS NOT a blind hole).

 

i started pulling thngs apart and got the driver side head off and cylinder 7 was blown in the rear, but i was getting water leaking out the other head, which i havnt taken off yet but what i did notice is head gasket was fel pro. the motor olny has 88k miles on it but it sat for 7 years before i got to it, it ran fine for 2k miles then this. im guessing fel pro wasnt what was stock from the factory therefore the motor has been pulled apart prior to me getting it. what is the quality of the fel pro gaskets? and what should i be looking for in a replacment?

a side question, what type of roller rocker arms came on them from the factory? it has some from crane cams...im just trying to understand why the motor has new gaskets in it.

 

FelPro gaskets are perfectly fine; widely used replacements. You can use them again (FS77333PT2)

No roller rockers came on these motors from the factory. They were ALL stamped rubber.

The motor has new gaskets because someone has taken it apart and put it back together. Not too hard to figure that out. Furthermore, it sounds like they didn't do a very good job putting it back together.

 

now that i know the roller rockers were not factory, im just assuming who ever worked on it before put some after market stuff in the motor and yes did a **** poor job of putting it back together again. thanks for the input everyone.