I made my first shakedown run yesterday, (fresh 540's) I'm running crossovers, no t-stats, water temp was 45, I have Bravo X drives with lwp & side pick-ups, I notice traces of water on the sticks after a hard run, (engine temp never went above 130) my guess is a have way to much water pressure (this was over 100MPH) I suspect I may have pushed the intake gaskets to the point of leakage, I will be checking this & adding water pressure reliefs , does this sound right??

how much water presure?

also do you have an oil stat?

no water pressure gauge (I'm only assuming it's to high) because of my set up, (no oil stat either)

You really should have an oil thermostat. After running it hard with probably not much oil temp, the water is probably from condensation. The cold block makes it even more neccesary for an oil thermostat. Hook up a water pressure gauge, even if it is temporary, to confirm you don't exceed 25 psi. CP Perf.has some nice oil thermostats. Get yourself one before you hurt the motor. Hope this helps, Eddie.

I'm going to add the water pressure relief valves just for piece of mind, (that will rule out any potential pressure problems) possibly add T-stats

careful with the stat.

you need a psi guage, especially if your runnin over the 100 mark.

and also an oil t stat for reasons mentioned above.

with out the oil stat oil will never reach 215-220 which is where water is steamed out of the oil. if the engineruns cool and especially if its intercooled the intake isso cool you will get tremendous condensation, which will make for cake batter.
the pressure relief is a good item to incorporate into the water system , but it will only alleviate a certain amount of pressure and volume. it is better to design the water system as a whole with propoer bleeds and dumps such as ones taped into the back of the intake for example ,if necessary, to regulate your pressure AND volume to avoid heat saturation and hot spots.
the relief valve should be used to get rid spike pressures during re-entry per say.

assuming my water pressure is an issue, does this explain condensation in the oil, or just lack of heat build up?

well, I added a pair of merc pressure relief valves, & a pair of 140 T-stats with 4 3/16 holes, went out for a test run & water temp was steady 130-135, oil looks good, & the valves were pumping water above 4 grand, next time out I will run a psi gauge just to verify my water pressure

Can you check your oil temp.?

I do not have oil temp gauges, but I may hook up a temporary gauge to check