Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

First...

BCRedliner, thank you for chiming in when you did. It may or may not have saved me a lot of work depending on what answers I get today.

Good news. I found the (primary) leak.

Bad News. Before I ran the garden hose into the overflow tank and got everything wet including the floor I had to lay on (I need a lift), I decided to go ahead and take the belly pan (stiffener) off so that when the water started flowing I could see better where it was coming from. (Thanks again William X5)

After getting the pan off, I was amazed at the amount of crud that had accumulated. I think this is because the little drain at the bottom of the oil filter is jammed and I have been undoing the entire filter casing to change the oil. This resulted in a lot of oil splashing and then dirt sticking. Good news is this gave me an opportunity to clean it off. I will also buy a new filter housing and hope that it allows for less splashing.

The bad news is I really didn't have to take the pan off to find the leak. After removing as mush as I have and then taking BCRedliner's advice to stop and check the leak was obvious.

More Bad news - What a PITA getting the plate off was. I expect that getting it back on will be even more of a pain. I have read the debate about whether or not new bolts should be purchased. I will check their prices and decide. But here is a question about the stiffener that has not been posed yet. From what I read, the bolts need to be tight in order to keep the stiffener located - does this mean they have to be put back in the same orientation; bolt in from the bottom? If Bolt in from the top is permissible, then it seems it would make the job much easier (just a guess at this point). A guess that may be moot because the head of the bolt is not the same size as the nut. Just a thought. Any reactions? And why is it these bolts are not captive? Has anyone tried putting take or putty over the nut to hold it in place when the bolts are screwed in? How does that work out?

The good news is that the leak is in a small hose that y's just under the throttle plate. Coolant is pouring out of there, running down the vee of the engine and then down the back of the block. (See picture.) It looks like it would be a tight fit, but I am hoping I can get my big hands in there and replace these hoses. It looks to be three total.

That leads to the questionable news... Can anyone tell me if these three small hoses at the front of the intake manifold are the only ones? Or are there more at the back of the intake? I cant tell from any of the pictures I have seen. If no, I may not have to take out the intake. If yes, then I might as well do the pipes when the manifold comes out.

It really makes me crazy that they would use a plastic connector here where brass or some other metal is the obvious way to go.

As always any observations or comments would be welcome.