Thread: Opinions on 327 issues

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Hello all,

Looking for some second and third opinions on an issue I'm having with a 1964 block 327 with stock heads, Edelbrock Performer intake and 650cfm 4 bbl carb.

Changed oil last fall before winter and there didn't appear to be anything abnormal in it. Struggled with keeping coolant sealed while working on this throughout the summer (replaced the original carb and intake), lots of blue goo was used and many drives ended with trying to tighten all the hoses that would accumulate a small drip here and there. Temperature also hovered around 200 most of the time, idle or running, didn't seem to matter. Did spit coolant one time after it got too hot, but not a terrible amount.

Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks back when I finally got to fire it up. It started really rough, the whole car kind of shook and it just didn't sound very good. Let it run for awhile in high idle and it smoothed out, trace amount of white smoke was coming out of the exhaust as well. Nothing billowing or choking, but it was visible.

Temp came back towards 200 where it seems to live. Now, I could smell a syrup like mixture in the air as it heated up, so somewhere along the line the coolant is getting on or in something hot. This hasn't been much cause for concern since I still find a leaky hose every now and then. A slight woft of steam is coming out of the oil fill neck just like usual. It drove decently, not an award winner, but it wasn't terrible.

Today I pulled the dipstick a few times. It's clean, no antifreeze.

The coolant level doesn't seem to be that much lower than it usually is, although I haven't kept too close an eye on it.

I took off the oil fill cap (which tends to have a coolant "ring puddle" always present in minute amount where it presses into the intake) and it had some moisture goo with some greenish yellow tint. Obviously this makes me assume it is coolant that has been vaporized.

Is there any other opinions that point to something other than a head gasket? I will also note that for awhile the coolant leaks had dripped into the valve covers, but I can't imagine that any of that would still be burning up at this point.

Lengthy, I know. Thanks!