Tracy, I do understand what you are saying regarding the O ring seal that sets in the groove around the dist. and how it sets against the sides of the opening in the block. the chip in the casting around the block does not extend through to this area so the dist MUST be leaking around the base due to not seating down properly. I have taken off the sender at the tube for the gauge and have used liquid Teflon on it so I am 99% sure it is not leaking at the sender. The intake manifold by all indications looks to be sealing well also at the base of the back edge where it meets the block. That only leave the dist not sitting flush in the hole in relation to the shaft. If the oil pump shaft is the culprit than how could I go about getting the dist to sit flush. Example: I know the oil pump shaft is down as far as i can seat it into the pump and it is meshed into the camshaft gear, and I know that the slot is into the grooved hole in the oil shaft but the larger shaft on the distributor is "bottomed out" against the top of the oil pump shaft and the dist is twisted into the gear and is still sitting too high so as not to seat down flat against the block surface. What could i do about this? because I am starting to believe that this is the cause of the oil leaking. There is defiantly a leak at the dizzy and it kind of seems like this may be the cause of it. I tried to pull the oil pump shaft out using a large flat bladed screwdriver but the antenna magnet I was trying to pull it out with does not have enough power to hold the shaft as i pull up and it lets go and drops back into the spline. i tried two magnets and still no success in pulling it out.