Water seepage between head and block

[64.5 TX Stang]

I may not want to know the answer to this, but it looks like there may be some slight water leakage on the drivers side of the engine comming from between the head and the block. Is it possible that the head gasket is blown? Is this something I need to worry about right away? I have never seen water there, but it looks like there are drip marks. Whatever it is is very slow for sure. Also are there any commonly available books that give instructions on working on the inlines?

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[MustangSix]

There are a couple of coolant passages on that side of the block. What has probably happened over time is that your head bolts and head gasket have lost their clamping force. If it's only seepage and there's not a lot of water getting into the oil, you might be able to fix it by simply replacing the head gasket.

 

[64.5 TX Stang]

Fortunately there is no water getting into the oil. That is one reason that I had hope for this. I have little knowledge of the i6 as my other stangs have always been v-8. How do I adjust the valves once I get the head back on? I have never worked with a shaft rocker system before. Thank you all so much for your help with my growing pains.

 

[simon]

How do I adjust the valves once I get the head back on? I have never worked with a shaft rocker system before.

Depends on the rocker arms used on your engine.

144cid and early 170cid engines had solid lifter cams and used adjustable rocker arms.
later 170, 200 and 250cid engines use hydraulic lifters and non-adjustable rocker arms.

Unless you have an early solid-lifter-cammed 144-170 or the rocker assembly of one of those retrofitted to your later engine, the valves can not be adjusted. Without measuring and parts swapping (either shimmed pedestals or correct length pushrods, or using an adjustable rocker arm assembly), all you can do is hope that valve lash is within the desired compensation range of the hydraulic lifters.