1966 Ford Galaxie Head gasket leaking coolant torque?

Tiny
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  • 1966 FORD GALAXIE
Engine Cooling problem
1966 Ford Galaxie V8 Two Wheel Drive Automatic

O.K. I just replaced the head gaskets on my ford 289 because I took of the heads to port/polish, and also to replace the valves. I have done an engine rebuild before, so I figured this would be pretty streight forward, but I am having issues.

I torqued the head bolts to 65lbs per specs(65-70lbs). Should I torque them to 70 to see if that helps? Both heads are leaking coolant outside the engine and I'm not sure 5 more lbs of pressure would stop that. I made sure to have "FRONT" in the front, so I'm not sure what when wrong.

HELP?
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 AT 10:31 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
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You can try going to 70, but I dont think it will help. Are these the exact same heads you gave them? Did you match up the head gaskets with the block/old gaskets before installation? Its always a good idea to lay them on the block adnlook to be sure all coolant passages line up properly, regardless of what the parts house says. Im not a Ford guy per say, but I do know they make alot of stuff that wont swap around to other engines, so if possibly you got heads from another engine, they may have coolant ports that dont line up
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 8:16 AM
Tiny
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They are the same heads. I got the gaskets from Mustangs Unlimited. They matched up perfectly. I have no clue why they would be leaking.
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 12:05 PM
Tiny
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Where are they leaking from? Between head and block or on an end? If all was nice-n clean when put together they shouldnt leak, may wind up taking back apart to see what happened or what is wrong
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 12:36 PM
Tiny
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Both of them are leaking at the ends where it joins the block. I just thought it was weird that both sides are doing it. The head gasket I got was supposed to be one of the better ones. Could the torque specs be different?
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 12:55 PM
Tiny
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If both sides are doing it in the same place, there is something way wrong. You could try torquing them to the upper limit, but honestly it sounds like it needs to come back apart to see why it is leaking. Not what you wanted to hear im sure, but its a necessary evil sometimes
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 4:55 PM
Tiny
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These heads look like they are on perfectly. I am starting to think that the coolant is leaking from the intake manifold and following the seam making it look like it;s the head. This is bugging me. Isn't it morelikely that it's the intake leaking?
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Friday, June 4th, 2010 AT 7:11 PM
Tiny
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Quite possible. Did they mill the heads down to increase compression?If so the intake has to be machined as well so the mating surfaces/intake ports ae lined up. Usually if they just do a clean up cut to be sure the head is flat it wont make any difference. But if they angle mill or cut them more than a few thousandths, it can change all of the geometry on the intake
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Saturday, June 5th, 2010 AT 9:02 AM

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