OK, I'm loosing too much oil. Time to replace the gasket for the timing cover. What is the minimum amount of parts you think I need to take off to do this? Are there any old school tricks that can save me some time? I'd appreciate any help you may give. Thanks. KOT

 

Mark, There isn't any oil behind the timing cover. I suspect that the intake or the rocker/valve covers are the culpret. Get a can or two of carb cleaner and clean up the front of the engine, drive it out and you will soon see where the leak is.
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John

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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.

 

Daym! That's got me think'n...Profanity Removed! I know it's not coming from the valve covers or intake. The oil is no where on the top of the engine except maybe from the distributor on down the front. I'm loosing about 1/2 qt per gas fill-up. I'll have some time Sunday to do as you suggest. Thank you.

 

If you find you are leaking at the timing cover, it's probably the seal around the snout of your crank shaft.
You will need to remove all items directly in front of the timing cover in order to do the work. That is if you find that is where your leak originates from.
There is also an issue of inspecting the sleeve behind the harmonic balancer for a ring of wear from the seal riding on it over the years.
My brand new seal leaked due to this ring of wear.
I purchased a "Sleeve repair kit" which consisted of a thin slip on sleeve that goes over the original sleeve. The seal then rides on it and not the groove. It cost me 4.95 at the parts store.
I too had LOTS of oil going ALL over the bottom and blowing back due to the fan. I had cleaned as suggested above and discovered the leak at the shaft. Most of the time involved is spent removing the front parts to get access to your cover. After that things go fast.
Hope this helps.

Hawkeye

 

Well, I spent some time in the shop yesterday and here's what I found out. No leak behind the timing cover but leaks in the front of the intake. Your not surpised are you jowilker, LOL This should be a little less time consuming to fix. Thanks you guys for your suggestions.

I'm planning to put headers on cause my exhaust manifold on the right side is not very flat and it's hard to keep a seal. Before I can do that, I thought I would weld up part of the head where one of the manifold bolts go. About 1/3 of the cast iron was missing around the threaded hole. I stuck about a 1/4 in piece of copper wire through the hole and welded around it using a stick welder and nickel rod. Die ground it so it looks normal, then ran a tap up through it. That worked great! Put the manifold back on with a fresh gasket and 510 locktite.

I then went to check points as the truck was running rough again. I was VERY dissapointed to see that the lobes on my year and half old distributer were very worn. I guess a $28 distributer from AutoZone doesn't get you very far. Soooo, I'd like to go to electronic ignition. I looked at the Summit catalog and so two types. One that uses your original dist's lobes for a pickup and one that replaces the whole thing and doesn't seem to use a mechanical pickup.

My question now is, what do you recommend for me. Keep in mind, I am a novice so I don't really have a guy feel for this. My thoughts were to get a new distributer, then go with the electronic ignition add on (cheaper route). I'm not sure I'll get that much bang for my buck by going with the $220 petronixs dist. Will I need a new coil also?

I'd appreciate it if you have any more usfull info for me. Thanks again.
Mark

 

Mark, I have been around the FEs since the 60s. Not much on building, but run them. Kinda been there and done that a couple of times. Thought if I could help you out I would. I run the Mallory Unilite on one of my engines. Have you miced the lobes to verify the wear? A used FE dist. should be pretty cheap, and adding a Pertronix is a good choice. Forget headers, they are a pain, add a lot of heat and noise to the cab. They can also maks a 15 min. starter change out take 8 hrs.
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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.

 

John,
Not trying to be annoying or anything but...what do you mean there is no oil behind the timing cover? The front main seal is behind the timing cover. If you ever remove one, you will see the front portion of your oil pan exposed. There is alot of oil there, which is why is spews out when you have a leaky front main oil seal on the crankshaft.

-Mike

 

Good point Mike, but unlike the valve cover area, there is no oil pumped there. Any oil leaking from the front crank seal should fall back into the oil pan.
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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.

 

jowilker, you've got me rethinking the header idea. Would it pay to resurface the exaust manifold?


In addition to the oil behind the timing cover, I put that one to rest realizing that even if there is some oil, there is no pressure to push it out the gaskets.

 

Unless your pcv is not working and crankcase pressure is pushing it out. There’s a oil slinger behind the front seal to act as a shield from the flying oil inside.

 

Mark, Having the manifold machined is a good idea. IMHO
Sounds like Barry concures, no oil behind the cover. :-)
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John

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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.