The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 292 water leak

I fired up my 292 engine last night for the first time since having it honed and putting all new "guts" into it. It started and ran just fine with just little bit of lifter chatter. Near the end of a 20 minute "warm-up," I could hear a sizzling noise from the rear of the engine.

I turned off the engine and traced the noise to some water (used only water - no antifreeze for the start-up) sizzling and sputtering around the rear-most exhaust manifold allignment pin.

Does the pin go into the water jacket? Can I remove it and seal it some way? Has anyone ever run into this before? (The search engine turned up nothing) Might it seal itself up with use? Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Craig

You should be able to remove the alignment pin and replace with a bolt or stud, and sealer. The pin is threaded, use a pair of vise grips and unscrew it.

I haven't had one leak on me.

Larry

There are freeze plugs in back of the manifolds that are known to leak.

Thanks for the quick responses! I don't think it is a freeze plug - I have the front sheetmetal off and could see the leak with a flashlight. I didn't even think about the pin being threaded. Maybe some high temp. thread sealant would stop the problem. What's interesting is that it didn't leak before the engine rebuild process. . .maybe it was plugged with 45 years of caked on grease!

Craig