Everyone has given me a lot to think of..I really appreciate the help. I think I am gonna re-check the torque on the heads and play with the fit of the intake..something tells me that blower manifold is not sitting at the correct angle on the heads and is pushing water by when the water pressure gets up there. I'm also going to open up my relief valve all the way and see if I can keep my pressures below 15 lbs. I def. don't have a problem with heat. If this doesn't fix it..I'll fill the system with hot water and dye and pressurize the system and start all over :(

sure. arp has good numbers for their torque specs and their product is top flight. but having said that i have seen head gasket failures that are simply a function of inadequate clamp load. this can be because the head gaskets crush or high boost or any number of things where, the " standard" clamp load as a function of what arp configuration creates is simply not adequate for the real world configuration... for instance..

1) head studs not lubed properly

2) washers used that are not hardend

3) heads not retourqued properly or nat at all after initial loaded running.

4) bad mating surfaces

5) simply not enough clamp load for the stresses


most of those deal with the clamp load being reduced as a matter of things being overlooked... but it is possible that the clamp load is not adequate...

i don't know and i'm not there looking at it. but i can't get away from the fact that as soon as you increased the revs by 20 % you increased the thermal and shock loads by about 45 % ... and then the problem showed up.

i don't believe in coincidence

If the intakes were leaking, normally when you pulled the intake off, you would see the white milky stuff in either the front, or back, depending on where the water was coming in.

Im guessing your head bolt holes dont go into the water jackets. I think only the mark iv production blocks did, and since you have 540's.....im guessing you dont have those blocks.

Is it only the breathers with milky stuff, or is the lifter valley and rockers full of milkshake??

One thing I have learned with intakes, is I tighten them in a sequence, starting in the center and working outwards. Then, I do it again, once again starting at the center. I usually go around 3 times, run them to get things warm, and re-torque a final time. Probably overkill, but i had a leaky intake before, mainly from not doing the above. I had torqued them down pretty good, but now i do it in 3 steps, like a cylinder head torquing.

I like the idea of lowering the psi to 15. Question, are you putting a bead of RTV or anything around the water ports when installing the intakes???

Funny you should mention the retorquing..I check the heads..perfect. When I torque the intake down yesterday..I came back 30 minutes later and had to torque down another 5lbs..So, now I am letting it sit for a few days then will retorque one more time before putting the blower back on..Yes, I put sealant on all the bolts and also used 3M 8001 around the water ports..got it real tacky this time before I put it together and lined up the ports I believe better..Also ran a bead of "The right stuff" from the first intake bolt across the deck to the other intake bolt hole..If this leaks..I got other problems!!

One thing I was wondering..I use one of those fake lake plungers when I fire it up in the driveway..do you think the pressure in the hose could have caused the intake seal to leak..City water is @ 45lbs.

Oh, and the milk shake is primarily all up front under the intake..look like a whore with a very bad yeast infection!!

No. And I wouldnt be using 3m weather strip adhesive around the water ports. That stuff isnt meant for that. I would use some black RTV, or "the right stuff" by permatex. That $hit is unreal.

Really, I've had numerous people swear on using 3M. The only reason I didn't use "The right stuff" around the ports is it says not to use near gasoline..and I thought hard about that decision. So I only used it for the deck. I did use RTV last time and it leaked.

I've seen guys use weatherstrip glue around the intake port section of the manifold, but for the water jacket I would use a gasket maker, just me though.

Well I will re-torque and pressure test it..if it fails I will pull it off and do it again..I have plenty of "The right stuff"..just gonna cost me another set of gaskets.

i always put a smear kote of the right stuff on both sides of the intake gasget,on all ports,it is impervious to gasoline,that chit seals better than anything i have ever used.i hate to say it,but i think something else is causing the milkshake.

Cleaning the metal surfaces with some thinner or acetone adds some insurance as well.