1973 Dart Sport
Managed to pinpoint the crankcase issue to some bent pushrods. With the help of this wonderful forum I found out that was likely due to my rocker shafts being on wrong and causing some exhaust valves to stick due to oil starvation. The cam seemed fine and I got everything back together last weekend. Spent some time on the car this weekend to make sure everything was back to 100% and ran into a few issues.
Figured it'd be a nice and easy day. Just wanted to change my oil, get the car up to temperature, do a quick test run and clean up some of the wiring. It was pretty smooth up until the test run. The run itself went pretty good. The valvetrain is a lot quieter and engine definitely feels like it's running a bit healthier. But when I pulled into the garage, I notice a small puddle of oil coming off the bottom of the transmission. I figured the excessive blow-by may have ruined the oil filter seal so I made sure it was snug and gave it another quick run. The ground was wet this time so I noticed a series of nice oily rainbow puddles in the driveway this time. My passenger side header was also smoking a bit. Took a close look and noticed the oil was on the outside of the bellhouse and not by the filter. I traced it back up to the engine and found a few small puddles on the backside of the block. My intake wasn't sealed well at all in the back and the oil was running down the top of the bellhousing. I figured the bead of gasket maker I used was a little thin around the distributor so it wasn't too surprising but still a little frustrating. Kinda hard to eyeball how much you need especially with the engine in the car instead of on a stand. I think I might switch back to the cork gaskets this time and just coat them with RTV to be safe. No water leaks so I can't be too mad.
Figured I just continue on with the day like nothing happened. Wasn't ready to crack that can of worms just yet. Did some pretty good work on the wiring, still need to cut the spark plug wires to length and put some better thought into routing them. Was pretty happy with the outcome, even if it took most of the day to get done. Some before/afters:
Drained the coolant before dinner and broke all the bolts loose. Was hoping when I cam back I could pop the intake off cleanly and not have to replace the intake gasket but it tore at one corner at one of the water jackets. Wasn't going to risk that so I just cleaned all the surfaces and covered everything back up for another day.
At some point I'll just get to enjoy the fruits of my labor and just enjoy the car ...
Managed to pinpoint the crankcase issue to some bent pushrods. With the help of this wonderful forum I found out that was likely due to my rocker shafts being on wrong and causing some exhaust valves to stick due to oil starvation. The cam seemed fine and I got everything back together last weekend. Spent some time on the car this weekend to make sure everything was back to 100% and ran into a few issues.
Figured it'd be a nice and easy day. Just wanted to change my oil, get the car up to temperature, do a quick test run and clean up some of the wiring. It was pretty smooth up until the test run. The run itself went pretty good. The valvetrain is a lot quieter and engine definitely feels like it's running a bit healthier. But when I pulled into the garage, I notice a small puddle of oil coming off the bottom of the transmission. I figured the excessive blow-by may have ruined the oil filter seal so I made sure it was snug and gave it another quick run. The ground was wet this time so I noticed a series of nice oily rainbow puddles in the driveway this time. My passenger side header was also smoking a bit. Took a close look and noticed the oil was on the outside of the bellhouse and not by the filter. I traced it back up to the engine and found a few small puddles on the backside of the block. My intake wasn't sealed well at all in the back and the oil was running down the top of the bellhousing. I figured the bead of gasket maker I used was a little thin around the distributor so it wasn't too surprising but still a little frustrating. Kinda hard to eyeball how much you need especially with the engine in the car instead of on a stand. I think I might switch back to the cork gaskets this time and just coat them with RTV to be safe. No water leaks so I can't be too mad.
Figured I just continue on with the day like nothing happened. Wasn't ready to crack that can of worms just yet. Did some pretty good work on the wiring, still need to cut the spark plug wires to length and put some better thought into routing them. Was pretty happy with the outcome, even if it took most of the day to get done. Some before/afters:
Drained the coolant before dinner and broke all the bolts loose. Was hoping when I cam back I could pop the intake off cleanly and not have to replace the intake gasket but it tore at one corner at one of the water jackets. Wasn't going to risk that so I just cleaned all the surfaces and covered everything back up for another day.
At some point I'll just get to enjoy the fruits of my labor and just enjoy the car ...
