Intake leaking coolant after head gasket change.

[royster]

I, for one, really wouldn't know what to do if I had to replace the dowel(s), but Mr. Giovanni is on the right track with grinding it down a bit. For the leak you report, I can only imagine that there is a resistance when you torque the head bolts, and those dowels are the only thing that would be the culprit.

I wouldn't be afraid to grind down the dowels too much: they are only there to align the gasket and head. So check on those things real carefully, and perhaps do that leak test as Giovanni suggested. We'll get 'em this time, t97!!!

[Giovanni89]

I, for one, really wouldn't know what to do if I had to replace the dowel(s), but Mr. Giovanni is on the right track with grinding it down a bit. For the leak you report, I can only imagine that there is a resistance when you torque the head bolts, and those dowels are the only thing that would be the culprit.

I wouldn't be afraid to grind down the dowels too much: they are only there to align the gasket and head. So check on those things real carefully, and perhaps do that leak test as Giovanni suggested. We'll get 'em this time, t97!!!

They just pull out of the block. Soak around them in a bit of carb cleaner and then usually you have to grab them with a pair pliers and give a little twist. If you kick up a burr with the pliers you can just stone or sand it off. I usually remove them when I clean the deck on the block.
If you really bitch them up, Randy who runs Engine Machine Service out of Ohio (who I bought my head valves and springs from) has a 2 pack of the new dowels on his conquest/starion parts page under "other engine parts" $4.10 for a 2 pack.