Coolant leaking into carbs

[drichards]

I have a 62 OTS roadster. The engine has been rebuilt but left sitting around for a few years, albeit mainly kept in a dry condition. I filled the water tank with a 50:50 ratio of coolant to water. Almost immediately the coolant was sitting on the three outlets of the manifolds and has since leaked into the carbs. What is the likely cause of this. That said I have largely dried out the carbs and no further leaking is apparent at this stage.

[abowie]

Likely cause is the inlet manifold gaskets haven't sealed properly.
Given that you have 3 separate manifolds you'd have to be pretty unlucky to have all 3 corroded through internally.
You could just try tightening up all the nuts that hold the manifolds to the head and see if it fixes it.
Personally I'd take them all off and replace the gaskets and seal them both sides with (gasp) a smear of silastic. That's a solid day's work but water in the cylinders will wreck your engine. You will also be able to have a good look at each manifold too which is good peace of mind.

[drichards]

Thanks, tightening the bolts seems to have done the trick, no more water oaks and have cleaned out carbs etc

[abowie]

Excellent; good outcome. Probably worth spending an hour or so "spannering off". Go over the whole engine bay (or whole car) and just check that each nut and bolt is actually tight. It's amazing what you can forget to tighten.