I just got my heads ported and I just got the engine back together. Now I have water in the engine some how. What all could it be? I used ARP bolts with tread sealer and Fel-Pro gaskets. I got the heads on the dowel pins as far as I know. I now have this milky substance in the oil.

 

Sorry to tell you....but your gonna have to get new gaskets and do it again. Did you torque the heads correctly?

Did you test fit the heads on the block without the gasket to make sure the dowels were in far enough?

 

Ya, I torqued the heads correctly. I did not test fit without the gaskets. I did however drain the oil before pulling the heads and put the plug back in and put new oil in after the head install. Do you think I could just have some water in there from before?

 

You can change the oil and try again and see what you have . Check for bubbles in the radiator when the engine is running too.

If you didnt test fit it it is a possiblity that one or more of the dowels are keeping the head from fully seating.

 

Whoever ported your heads may have hit a water jacket.

 

I hope not. The guy has too good of a reputation. I think I will figure out what cylinder and take that head off and take it somewhere local to check it all out. Any other ideas?

 

Could it be the 9966 Fel-Pro gaskets?

 

I know everyone may have a different way of putting the heads on put here is my way that has always worked for me. I start with the middle bolts and work out word doing a cross hatch pattern and torqing them all using three seperate steps; 20,40, then 65.

Jeff D.

 

What are these dowel pins that he referes to, why are we to dry test them 1st ?

 

The pins are in the deck of the block and are there to ease proper alinement of the heads with the block. They have to be removed to deck the block and sometimes the machine shop doesnt get them fully seated. Test fitting the head without the gasket was just a no brainer to me.....if the head sits flush and all looks good without the gasket put gasket in place and bolt it up.

 

I was confused about this myself. They do make two gakets for the LT1. The 9966 is the standard Felpro replace gasket (stock GM thickness). The 1471 is part of Felpros "high performance" line of gaskets. I went to Autozone and asked for a Felpro head gasket and they pulled the 9966 and I said Felpro only makes one gasket for the LT1 and it's number is 1471. He looked it up in a Felpro catalog and they do make two different ones. Any autoparts store can get the 1471 but they have to order it. Every parts store in my area had the 9966 in stock though. Also, the 1471 has modified coolant ports. The water holes for the center cylinders are enlarged. One is also added (the block has a provision for it but the stock GM gasket does not use it). The outer water holes are made a bit smaller to even out the pressure loss. Felpro says they do this with the 1471 "high performance" gasket because the middle two cylinders heat up more than the outer two when you increase the compression. Since the 1471 is thinner it does just that. The 1471 is also made of a different material I believe because it is blue and the 9966 is black.

Jeff D.

 

This sucks....I'm putting my 383 back together and looked just now. I have the 9966 gaskets. Will they work just as god or what? I paid 200 for those basteds.

 

Ok, I don't know now if I have water in my engine now. I changed the oil two more times and I have no milky substance in my oil that I can see. However, I do still have what looks like steam or light smoke coming from the oil fill tube. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. Great job in explaining the gaskets. I still have a bas miss off idle and I can't find it. Does anyone think it is because I didn't put any greese on the coil before putting back on the head?