Ford FE intake question
 

I have a 390 from a 1961 Thunderbird. Currently have an original aluminum tripower on it. I have an internal coolant leak going into the oil, so I pulled the intake off today. Have a few ideas as to what it could be: head gaskets, water pump and timing chain cover gaskets. On the bottom of the intake manifold it has a bolted on removal baffle cover. I took it off and removed the carbon underneath it, then reinstalled the cover. Nothing looked out of place there, but I’m wondering why they have a baffle cover in the first place? Is it only for keeping hot oil from heating the incoming air? Or is there another reason?
This is on a street rod that probably won’t see too many miles.

First time posting, I’m a new community member.

Joshua
clearwater mn

Welcome Joshua..

The heat shield was to keep splash oil off of the intake manifolds Hot cross over area where the exhaust flow heats the intake manifold under the carb.

They didn’t really have head gasket issues, although I have seen some intakes bleed into engine Valley at the corner cross overs. If you pulled the manifold, look closely at the passages. Also, check the manifold for flat.
The head gasket fire rings can fail and leak/draw from the nearby coolant passages, generally will show evidence at the pipe, but will contaminate the oil during combustion. A good quality head gasket on fresh flat surfaces rarely leaked. That said, when gasket composion was being altered and compliant engineered, there were quite a few questionable gaskets offered up.
Things like base engine/cylinder/head cracks weren’t common, but if gotten Hot, always a consideration. Any coolant out the pipe, white exhaust cloud, or any evidence on the spark plugs? Given their age, it wasn’t uncommon for the head to intake manifold cross over-runner areas at the gasket ends to be pitted, rough, uneven, and allow for a bleed into the engine Valley, or externally. Or head resurfacing gone wrong.

Water pump, timing cover wasn’t an internal leak point since the timing cover didn’t have a gasketed coolant passage, and the pump was a direct bolt up to the block.