It has been driving me nuts looking for the source of my Mobil-1 Latte double-shot with extra whip cream in the engine. I know, it's a really short drive for me goin nuts..

Upon pulling the second head this evening....... AFTER winning an ebay auction for another pair of GT40p heads with GT40 intake manifolds, throttle body and injectors..........

I noticed a funny looking comma looking mark on the head gasket. Kinda curly like one of them fat curly hairs, really fat! Sure as shootin' it was a tiny water channel from a steam hole directly to the lifter valley. It would have been shooting coolant, then steam at the underside of the intake manifold, hence the fancy barista artwork on it.

Woohoo! Except for the extra three hundred bucks this has turned out well. I had wanted to score the GT intakes to cut up for a future switch to injection my way.

there was no damage to either head surface or block deck? As a Steamfitter we came across flange leaks where the HPS would cut some fancy grooves in the flanges face. We called the flanges "wire drawn"
I for one certainly want to hear about your EFI ideas Fletch?

1978 Ranchero GT 351W C6
1979 Ranchero GT 5.0 HO, AOD w/98 guts, 3.50 9" Traction-Lok
Visit the Small block forumhttp://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/119417

Salt is for steaks-- Not roads!
Alcohol is for drinking-- Not in my fuel!

happen years ago. Had some 289 heads milled, when the cutter changed direction it put a tiny groove in the head surface that connected a coolant hole, an oil drain back hole, and a combustion chamber. Had steam coming out of the breathers, and the tailpipes. Everyone was on me about my new "steam engine". :(

Only way I finally saw it was after pulling the second head. It was after ten at night and I was having to get really close with a tiny high output led light to see much and that's when I saw this bright curved line on the gasket metal and the groove in the face material of the first one I pulled. I couldn't see it earlier in the day when there was a lot of sunlight leaking in to the shop. Plus there is that bifocal,old, cranky PO'd aspect and focusing in on my fears that somehow my head porting had caused it.

Anyway, only see a shiny line on the head surface only. That will go away when I scuff the head with the 3M knobbly rotary gasket tool. I will pull a file across it to make sure it isn't as depressed as I was.

Phew! Of course now I have to pay for a set of heads and manifolds to ship from Indiana but they are a sweet deal for the price and I can always tweak these heads much better than the first set with the porting info I found in my desperation.

My idea for the injection using a GT40 upper & lower Explorer intakes is to cut the lower portion of the upper intake and use it for the flange to weld aluminum tubing to. That intake has staggered round ports so's I can elbow out and up into an oval FoMoCo looking air cleaner with a throttle body stashed inside. FAST and MegaSquirt both have dandy computers to drive the whole mess without the nest of snakes or M-80 in the spaghetti effect that the factory Ford setup requires. That's the simple form of the concept which will surely drive me bananas.

Now I'll have an extra set of heads to go with my extra 30 dollar 5.0 shortblock and something to mock it all up on. Once I clear all the crap from the garage there is a chance of very slow progress and grinding of neurons.

Fletch you stated the following
"I saw this bright curved line on the gasket metal and the groove in the face material of the first one I pulled."
Where the gaskets you used full metal? Just curious as I have never tried them on a street engine, of course I'm not counting the dozens of pure copper ones I used on old British bikes. And even though it is not current policy, even with the Perma Torque gaskets I still give them a spray of Aluminum paint before installing. Yes I am oldSkool

1978 Ranchero GT 351W C6
1979 Ranchero GT 5.0 HO, AOD w/98 guts, 3.50 9" Traction-Lok
Visit the Small block forumhttp://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/119417

Salt is for steaks-- Not roads!
Alcohol is for drinking-- Not in my fuel!

Quote "bright curved line on the gasket metal and the groove in the face material of the first one I pulled"

The metal in question is the core of the comp/metal/comp gasket sandwich construction of this ROL brand gasket.