Well heads if were not clamped down they would be making one hell of a racket kinda like an exhaust manifold leak. Ticking but LOUD. And would blow out front and rear intake seals first. Correct. There is a ton of air trying to get out when chamber lights up. maybe more than one problem there. Deffinately looks like something spilling down on pan in the corners..

Its in the boat

i did find the thermostat housing was seeping last night. Ipulled it off, cleaned it up, put it back on with new gasket and used the right stuff sealant on both sides of the gasket. Let sit overnight. Tried again this morning. Same thing.

The thermostat housing still has a slight seepage to it but i cant think its enough to let the pressure drop as quickly as it is

talked to my builder last night. He wanted me to double check everything and then let him know. He said the plan of attack is to pull the intake and block off the heads and pressure test and go from there


its like a never ending saga. Stay tuned i guess.

Also he is postive he used the right gasket. He knew all about the gen 4 vs 5 vs 6

he was going to go back and check but from memory he didnt think he put the pan back in the valley either

Don't have much to add other that I would make this guy my former engine builder.

I didn't realize people used valley trays with single plane intakes on BBC. We use them on the mopar B and RB engines because we have to.....I don't see how your builder could not recall if he used it or not???

At least he's working on it. If I were you I would take a look at the bores. All that water in there may have messed them up. Do you know what compression ratio its set up for?

A little over 9:1

he did re hone the cylinders. He basically completly dismantled the motor, cleaned, planed heads, checked the block and put it back together.

Hope you get things ironed out soon and get over the hump. What did you use to get that mess cleaned up in engine bay. All I could think was mineral spirits

I don't think the builder screwed you. maybe he screwed up, but he immediately did his best to make it right. and he didn't find anything he did wrong and bill you. and he didn't make up some BS to cover his a$$. the one thing I asked was to pressure test the block and heads. it is possible there is a casting flaw in one or the other. if so, he didn't put it there.

This what my stock bulldog pans look like. I'm going to leave it out