he beat me to it, if your losing coolant with no external leaks and no visible leaks otherwise...check those locations near the head bolts for clean spots, GM has had some porous castings with those "battery" markings on them that would leak coolant at those locations.

 

the head says 43 on it doesn't have any of those markings on it.
KBbracing. i'm doing the whole thing. new patriot gold springs all around, new ls7 lifters all around, new head and exhaust gaskets oh and to hold it all down. ARP 12 pont studs on both sides. mine has the long *** studs with the two short ones on the ends. but like i said before the right side of my block has been wet for awhile. never knew where it came from but the reservoir jug keep getting lower and the passenger side kept getting wetter. at first i thought it was oil. i was like well **** here we go. but it smells like coolant that has wash off a dirty block.

 

should i get some of that copper spray stuff for the head gaskets?

 

Replace the coolant plugs on the ends of the heads while they are off this is another source of leaks. also cheap i nsurance against future leaks.

 

i'll look into it. might just glue them in. they are just there for the mold. the ls3's don't even have them.

 

So you pull the drivers side head off yet?

 

you cant really check the lifters. you can make sure the roller moves smoothly and that it has to major scratches or flat sides... other than that, sometimes you can get the plunger to move, some wont

fyi LS7 lifters are the same as any other sbc lifter... good selling feature though

 

Are any of the rollers on the lifters scored?? I have seen the lobes on the cam come apart numerous times, and sounds exactly like yours. It is usually the exhaust lobe on number 7 cylinder. I would turn the motor over a bunch of times and inspect the cam....

 

passenger head first that's where the noise was coming from

 

Well, get busy and pull the other head off already, I want to see it!