The SA 406 came to life at 9:24 EST. Euphoria !! The last major hurdle towards completion (I hope !!) was cleared tonight. After 229 calls to Alan "The Cobra" and Lyle at SA, I worked all the rookie roadblocks out and the stimulating aroma of exhaust filled the garage. So far I have only found one leak, the fuel feed into the carb. I did not let it run long enough to open the thermostat so the water leak test is next. The carb is a little rough on idle but I assume that settles out once the engine gets to know me better.

Now, member advise is needed here. What obvious points on the engine and plumbing are notorious leak areas?

I close with my first initiation act; after shutting off the engine, I started the leak search. Well of course I climbed under the car and was astute enough to use the fender as leverage as I set out to check for oil leaks. In approximately .004 seconds my SEG (grin) turned into a sizzling sound as my upper arm rested comfortably on the header. I am now looking for advise on how to remove skin from the header.

I hope someone out there has a better story of hot header encounters to ease the dumb feeling that followed the burning feeling.

Thanks to all for the great advise.

Ric