Hi Tom,
I have the same problem with my 514. I've had small coolant puddles under the car for the last 2-3 years. I've retorqued the intake a couple of times, but that didn't hold. I see the gaskets extruding out of the corners of the intake. The final straw was what I thought was a header leak; backfiring from the right bank. Tightened the header, but didn't solve the problem. Pulled the plugs and found the right rear plug
oil fouled. Obviously, the intake was pulling
oil from the valley of the block! I retorqued the manifold again, changed the plug and it's been OK. But, it's time to fix a couple of other problems as well, so the engine is out of the car (to do the other fixes, like replacing the ring gear on the flywheel) and I've purchased the Victor Reinz intake gasket.
Do you have any advice on how to avoid dumping coolant into the block valley when removing the manifold? I've obviously drained the radiator and quite a bit of coolant escaped from the water pump while the engine was tipped at different angles during removal. I'd like to keep the coolant out of the valley and the
oil if possible.
One more comment. I ordered the Victor Reinz gaskets from NAPA online and they sent me the wrong set. I had to reorder, supposedly to get the right parts. Meanwhile, a set of the correct gaskets showed up on my doorstep. Yesterday, I got an email from NAPA saying they cancelled my new order because the gaskets are out of stock and they are not sure they will get more. When I checked with about 5 NAPA stores in this area, none had them in stock and, get this......they tried to sell me Fel-Pro gaskets! Told me they are selling out the Victor Reinz line and replacing with Fel-Pro. Could be a problem finding these recommended gaskets in the near future.
15,000 miles; I'm envious. Only 5,000 on mine and we built at around the same time. Must be the difference of Florida vs. Michigan.
Chuck