Alright, being as though ive tried looking online and connot for the life of me get a straight answer out of anyone, im going to ask you guys. Will a non HO head gasket work on an HO motor (302 that is). I changed the head gasket, but now it pours water from a small hole on the passenger side that oddly goes to the bell housing (no i do not have a blwon hole in the side of my block, this hole is there on all 302's, most generally it just doesnt leak. Thanks

 

Never mind, found that theyre the same, still lost as to why my block is leaking...grrr

 

When you installed the head gasket, was it layed correctly? I know that when I did mine they didn't look like they should go one way, but that they did. Maybe with a pic, I could see the leak and others could help in diagnosis.

What part of Mizzou are you located. Im in Central Missouri.

 

I cant get a camera in to see it. Fire wall is too tight. On the passenger side of the block, in the last little bit of the side there is a threaded hole, about 1/2 inch wide, about half way down. The hole goes straight through into the bellhousing. I looked at a motor in the junkyard and you can see the flywheel, so it goes right through into the bellhousing right, now heres the tricky part. I pour water into my radiator the water pours out of that hole. Ok simple logic would say that if the hole that goes through the block into the bell housing is pouring water, the bellhousing is filling up with water right? Well if i pull the flywheel cover off..water still comes out of the hole but not out the bottom. Im completely stumped, i really wish i had a picture i could put on here because i have no earthly idea why water is coming out. I was 99% sure i had the gaskets right the first time but just to make sure i flipped them every which way (very carefully to not damage the gasket) and it does the same thing every way. So its not a placement issue. Ive been told to plug the hole, but its in every 302 ive ever seen and none of them leak, and i never took anything out so i refuse to believe that plugging the hole is the solution if it didnt leak before. If anyone knows anything please, any help would be amazing, im seriously on the verge of pricing another motor, this is my daily driver and its been out of commission for weeks now.

 

some of the head gaskets look like they work both ways but they wont , i have put them on backwards when i got in a hurry and then had to redo it !

 

And i live in southern iowa now but the truck is still at my folks place in fulton missouri

 

was there a freeze plug left out on the back side of the block , or it could of gone bad ! that water leak dose not sound like it is related to the head !

 

I was told that there is not a freeze plug on the back of the block, was i told wrong? Ive never had the trans and block seperated so I dont know.

 

I agree with CJ06. Was this a motor you were running before and decided to rebuild? or you purchased to rebuild with no driving time on it from you?

I live 25 mins from Fulton. Nice place..hate the brick roads. Ever been to the "Post Office"?

 

My truck used to have a 4.9 in it. After my third 4.9 i got fed up and bought a wrecked truck that had a 5.0 in it. I made the conversion to the 5.0. Motor and tranny and all, jever even seperated them. I drove it for about a year, added an edlebrock intake, converted it to a mustang style single inlet but backwards so the throttle body is on the right side. Ive done a lot of little stuff, the intake, valve covers, whatnot, but nothing major, that was the first time i had even had the heads pulled. Never had any problems before and it ran like a top, hell it still runs great.. Just doesnt hold water. Ive built small block chevys since i was 12, but this is my first small block ford aside from those damned 4.9s

 

And yeah ive been there, im actually best friends with one of the waitresses

 

Well, sorry to hear you had such bad luck with the 4.9L. Most people swear by them and I have one as well. If the truck did fine before hand and now won't hold water, I suspect something went amiss removing the heads or during installation. Not saying you did anything wrong. You sound very mechanically inclined. I'm going out to my '92, 302 to look closely @ it and see if I can narrow down the area you say is leaking.

I'll get back to shortly

 

Just got a look at the passenger side of the block and the area near the bellhousing. I see a hole about 3/8's to 1/2 from the bellhousing that is just underneath the knock sensor and appears to be threaded prety far into the block. The other 3 hole's I see are on the head. Top one for the "crossove tube", the larger one is the freeze plug, and the lower one doesn't appear to be threaded but smooth.

Does that seem close to the area? The only other threaded hole I could find on the pass. side is about half-way from the front to the back of the block, middle ways, and has an Allen screw in it.

EDIT: Did you have a machine shop check the H.O. 302 heads before installing them? Just asking since you said this was a 5.0 motor and you just started with asking about if there was any differene between Stock & H.O. head gaskets.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Its threaded, on the block and not the head and right around the lower head bolts in the rear