Starfire1961

Hi I have a '61 starfire that we rebuilt the 394 in 1999 and the car has less than 5 miles on the rebuild since. It has been run and started occasionally every few months or so to keep the juices flowing. After its 3rd oil change we notice antifreeze in the oil. Could the intake gasket or head gasket(s) be leaking from sitting and not enough use and driving? This is my first post and I will have to post soem pics of the car and motor, thanks.

citcapp

Sounds like a head gasket. does steam come out the tailpipe when the car warms up? Does compression build up in the radiator? With the radiator cap off does the coolent boil out?

Starfire1961

Thanks Pat, the car is at my parents' house right now so I will need to do those tests on it when I get down there. Is there normally a way you can tell if it is in fact a head gasket versus an intake gasket? Let me give you some more history on the car. Back in 1985 my father was running the car in driveway at idle and it either stalled or just stopped suddenly and the motor was locked up. Car sat that way for nearly 15yrs until 1999 when we decided to completely rebuild the motor with a kit from Kanter in NJ. It turned when we pulled the heads off a valve dropped which caused a hole in one piston and did a job on the combustion chamber of one of the heads. It also bent the connecting rod on that cylinder. We had the crank turned and heads rebuilt, new cam,pistons,rings..you name it. The one head which was damaged was repaired/welded by the head builder. Do you think this could be leading factor if it wasn't done completely right,causing the water in the oil? thanks

citcapp

Could be a couple of factors, one being the repair on the head wasn't done correctly or one of the heads not surfaced correctly, or not torqued correctly. Hard to tell at this point. In any case I believe you with have to pull the intake and the head to get to the root of the problem.

Starfire1961

Yea I hear ya..I haven't checked enough into the classifieds or even a Hemmings mag lately, but what are good used heads or rebuilt heads going for these days? I know these 394 heads are getting hard to come by and wouldn't mind having a spare set. Here is the car we are speaking of btw. Pics taken 10yrs ago. I'll have to get some recent ones. We had the inner and outer rockers done on it. Let me know if you guys need a body man who does awesome work in NJ, thanks.

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[QUOTE=Starfire1961;131662] I know these 394 heads are getting hard to come by and wouldn't mind having a spare set. QUOTE]

There actually easy to come by.. your problem is that your 1961 394 is a Starfire head which is different from a regular 1961 394 head..( assuming its origianal heads) The Starfire uses bigger intake and exhaust valves that is unique just to 1961

Starfire1961

Yea my car has the original Starfire heads..can regular 394 heads be modified for the bigger valves? If so I bet the machine work wouldn't be cheap. Thanks