[51woodie]

Ken. You don't mention what engine you have, but as above, there are no water passages into the intake manifold. On my '46 Coupe 59AB, there are five places where a coolant leak could develop, in the area you described. They are; the rad hose to head connection, heater coolant shutoff valve to head, valve stem packing on the shutoff valve, heater hose to valve connection, and temperature sender to cylinder head. To me, a coolant leak is like an oil leak, in that it doesn't take much to look like a lot of leakage. Also, keep in mind that airflow from the fan can spread fluids around, making it look like the leak is somewhere where it isn't. As you will see in the picture, I used pipe sealant for the valve, but not for the temp sender, as old wisdom says that a sealant could cause a poor connection from sender to ground, giving improper temp readings. On my heater valve there is "string" packing for the stem, and it is adjustable by tightening the fitting on top of the valve housing.