So I have a 1976 Spider 124 and I recently finished up a top end rebuild with new gaskets and everything. I've owned the car for less than a year now and right after putting everything together and filling it up with fuel, oil, and coolant it did a couple turn overs and at the front of the engine block right in the middle of the two bolts at the gasket leaks a pretty consistent flow of coolant. I'm not sure what to do here in this situation. The torque specs I used for the head bolts were a two stage tightening from 45 ft-lb to 61-63 ft-lb I even went to the max of 63 after I found the leak. Any recommendations are appreciated.

That is an odd leak, so the best I can do is a few random thoughts:

1. Is the head gasket correct for this engine? If not, the coolant holes might not line up correctly with the gasket. A 1976 should have the 1756cc engine, but after all these years, it is very common to have a different engine in the car than stock. So, if you bought a head gasket set for a 1976 but you have an earlier or later engine, there could be a problem.

2. Any issues with the two locating dowels between block and head, the one in the front oil hole and then the second dowel diagonally back from the first, in the rear? If by chance those got buggered up, the head might not be completely seated properly on the block (with the gasket in between).

3. Any chance that the leak is from the coolant neck at the front of the head? Leaks there are very common, and fresh coolant is pretty transparent, so it can drip down and make it look like it's coming from the head gasket interface.

There are other weird possibilities like a cracked head, but this would be very unusual so I would look at other stuff first (like the above).

-Bryan