I just put her to bed yesterday and came across this. It only has about 5 or 6 hours on it since the re-build. It is a 496 with Dart heads and CMI sport tubes.

Is there more to this rust than just rust or is it nothing to worry about?

Thanks for the help.

Looks to me like heat has just burned the paint away and then normal condensation has caused some minor surface rust.

might be some water running up the head bolt,i dont know what block you are useing,but if the headbolt holes are not blind holes,you need a lot of sealer on the threads or that will happen,pull that headbolt ,clean it,and apply locktite PIPE THREAD SEALEMT.

Thanks for the replies. I did not know if I was over thinking this.

mike tkach, it is the stock 496 block.

If it is closed cooling it would be antifreeze leaking around the head bolt not water. You could pressure check the cooling system but if it is not low I would not worry about leaking head bolts .

It is a closed cooling system.

Can reversion cause this?

You would have an exhaust leak then that would be quite noticeable.

Thank you everyone for the help!