I need some serious help here - I found some sort of a gasket in pieces in the oil pan of the '79 F800 with a 370ci engine that I'm working on. Here is a pic of the pieces...



From what I can piece together, I can find an identifier of "BAF" and possibly more. I can also see a 2, 3, 4, and then duplicates of those numbers and letters. The fact that there are two of just about every letter/number and two Ford logos lead me to believe that there are two of the same gaskets, but I cannot be sure. Can anyone tell me what this gasket may have been (emphasis on the past tense )? As far as explaining the pic goes, it would appear to me that the pieces on the left are on at the "top" of the gasket (the donut shaped ones that all the identifiers are printed on, it's about 1" in diameter, and the hole in the center is around 1/4" in diameter), and the pieces to the right go "under" the donut, kinda like a cylindrical sleeve. Can anyone help? Thanks a bunch, guys!

 

What kind of material is it?

Brad

 

It is some sort of hard plastic. I've talked to three very knowledgeable people, and I had an opinion of either an assembly cap (the engine was rebuilt either 140k or 40k ago, but I believe it was 40k ago) or a valve guide/retainer, so that's now two votes for some sort of valve train part.

 

Looks like the stock, umbrella type, valve stem seals.

 

Your just lucky that the bypass hole hadn't opened up in the pil pump pickup, or you'd also have a jammed oil pump and a sheared distributor gear roll pin.

[rant] Looks like you'll need new valve stem seals. Clean that crap out of there, and really give the pickup a good look. Way up under the shell, there will probably be a bypass hole in the screen. I learned about this after 4 catastrophic oil pump seizures in 400s and 429s. WORST idea Ford ever had. When the pickup gets old, the screen gets saggy, and the bypass hole opens up, allowing anything that's in the pan to get into the oil pump. It was put there to help people who never changed their oil, right? Well, those people deserve what they get. I have spent my life defending these engines from naysayers who claim they are junk because the oil pumps seize up. The only problem is the stupid bypass hole in the stupid Ford oil pump pickup. [/rant]

Get an aftermarket pickup and there will be no bypass hole.

Thanks for allowing me to vent.

 

Valve stem seals. Clean them out, check the oil pump pickup, pull the valve covers and look on the top of the heads for more of the same. You can replace valve stem seals without pulling the head. It is time consuming and a real PITA but easier and cheaper than pulling the engine down.

 

I just talked to my supervisor who's over me for this project that I'm working on (I'm a college sophomore working on this truck for the summer at my college), and he said to just clean out the oil pan and leave the rest be. It's not what I would do at all if it were my call, but if he sticks to his case, that's what I have to do. What sort of short and long-term damage am I looking at if this problem gets swept under the rug?

 

Most likley no damage or problems. Those shields keep oil off the valve stem. At most some oil runs down the valve stem and you get a puff of blue smoke at startup. If pieces of this get in the oil pump it will jamb the gears and stop the pump, shaft breaks, distributor stops, engine dies, WTF! Stay in school, make lots of money when you graduate, drink imported beer!

 

Alrighty. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Hm....isn't that the same "Supervisor" who told you it would be best to use a plastic transmission on a 5.8 Liter V8 Cop issue? O:-)

 

If you're referring to the tranny from the 48hp 4-cyl engine that he wants me to make fit on the 351W engine by drilling six more holes in the flywheel with a hand drill (which of course won't compromise the structural integrity AT ALL ), then yes, he is one and the same

scroob - I don't blame you at all for venting