Poor life choices - C4 content

Don't forget that the oil pan pretty much has to be dropped to clear the timing cover so it can be removed.  One of those design deficiencies of the SBC.  I think I suggested a multi-piece cover earlier in the thread for potential future cam changes.  Add potential future front crank seal changes to the list.  (I say this mostly to help myself remember to ALWAYS use a 2 piece timing cover on an SBC in the future.)

In reply to BrokenYugo :

I agree, the seal would have to be damaged or missing the spring. Especially considering it was just put together. (This seal was replaced once already, right?) 

The stamped covers are pretty tough compared to the seals. It's not easy to damage them beyond usability. 

With breathers in the valve covers, I'd expect oil all over everything on top long before it starts getting forced out seals. 

Done plenty in car. And i had one in my 89 tbi motor that was replaced when i installed the engine.  Within 500 miles it was leaking a lot. Like 1/2 quart in between my house and Winston Salem.  Replaced in place, greased the E36 M3 out of the balancer before reinstalling, never leaked again.  Think i forgot to grease the first time and friction burned it up.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

E36 M3... Good point about the grease thing. Now you have me all paranoid about the rear main in Shiela. I can't seem to remember if I greased it or not. 

In reply to Crackers :

Seal was replaced during rebuild, but it's whatever quality came in the $50 Rockauto kit. I think I'll step up to a Felpro or similar this time. 

Oh, and it seeming let go sometime during my last run, which was ~34 seconds, followed by a ~1/4-mile drive back to grid at an idle. When I topped it off before driving back to the pits it was almost a quart low. 

Pete Gossett said:

Hmm...for ventilation I have a cheap chrome breather shoved in each valve cover. 

Far from ideal for several reasons but probably not the cause of the problem at hand, probably doesn't help though. Even before emissions were remotely regulated it was recognized as a good idea to have positive ventilation/slight negative pressure on the crankcase (less leaks, less nasty blowby stuff and moisture hanging around degrading the oil and sludging stuff up, no oil mist in the engine bay, probably other things I'm forgetting) hence the "road draft tube" setup  (breather on one end, pipe hanging in the breeze under the car on the other) that came before PCV (which does those things much better and greatly reduces emissions to boot).

In reply to BrokenYugo :

I really don't have a clue how I should setup crankcase ventilation with a carb, but venting it into/through the carb just seems like a really bad idea to me. Won't the oily residue foul up the carb quickly?

In stock carb/PCV setups the PCV is often mounted in a grommet in the valve cover (or inline in a hose from the valve cover) and goes to a vacuum port at the base of the carburetor or the intake manifold.   That's for the air being drawn FROM the crankcase.

To allow air INTO the crank case you have a breather cap with a filter in it or a hose from a valve cover up to the air filter housing.

This way the carburetor doesn't actually see that air.  I'm at a loss as to how that crankcase air is compensated for in air/fuel mixture.  I assume we just end up with a mixture that's slightly rich exiting the carburetor and it gets diluted a bit by the small amount of crankcase air that finds its way in.  Not really sure on that.  Seems to work ok in factory applications, though. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Most of the stuff goes through the PCV valve and straight into the manifold where everything is constantly being washed with gasoline, if you source fresh air from the air cleaner I suppose you will slowly gunk up the top of the carb (at WOT with 0" vacuum you get some blowby out the fresh air tube), no worse than the gunk buildup you get after years in an EFI car (plumbed the same, just replace "carburetor" with "throttle body"). 

Seal the valve cover that has the PVC Valve, no breather on that side, it then sucks from the far side, Pvc tube is the same one as vacuum for the brakes a T between them,

If Oil is getting up to the VC  breather then raise it up,  or if TOO much like oil staying in Valve cover during run, then you can Tie them Togeather with a Loop/ one side to the other/old racing trick.

I've seen engines that smoked like a freight train that had only Minor oil on top of carb. not a problem Do a Compression test to Check the rings. If you mounted the timing cover Before the oil pan that is good if the oil pan was installed first then the leak is likely at that mating point. if repairing or replaceing timing cover take out all but the last 2 or 4 bolts in the oilpan but loosin them over half way so the front drops but didn't come off, not fun and not so easy, it becomes a mess quickly so have lots of clean up stuff around.

If you did like I do, then the gasket sealer has to be removed(Scraped) and that means taking both the pan and cover off, A PIA,  Fun Fun Fun

GTXVette said:

Pvc tube is the same one as vacuum for the brakes a T between them,

So when the PCV valve fails open it won't replenish the brake booster?  berkeley that.  Bad failure mode.  Been there, barely stopped the 72 Monte with no assist.  Separate vacuum supply for PCV!

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to Crackers :

Seal was replaced during rebuild, but it's whatever quality came in the $50 Rockauto kit. I think I'll step up to a Felpro or similar this time. 

In my experience, the best seals are the factory ones.  They make improvements as time goes on, plus it's the exact part and not something made for something else that kinda works.

AngryCorvair said:

GTXVette said:

Pvc tube is the same one as vacuum for the brakes a T between them,

So when the PCV valve fails open it won't replenish the brake booster?  berkeley that.  Bad failure mode.  Been there, barely stopped the 72 Monte with no assist.  Separate vacuum supply for PCV!

I get that, trying to keep it simple .  I grew up with non-power Drum Brakes,

I have Manly Legs,   so no problem.

To add an extra layer of fun there are several different oil pan/timing cover combinations that take different gaskets/lip seals. 

You *can* get the timing cover off without dropping the pan, but you bend the crap out of the back of the lip seal groove. If you cut the bent parts off at a 45 you can shove it back in with a healthy slathering of "The Right Stuff".

Thanks everyone! I'm going to pry out the seal & press in a new one, then I'll reinstall the pcv valve and route it to the intake. That probably won't happen for a couple weeks though, since I'm leaving town Saturday. 

don't forget the Crank seal sits on a" Shoulder" when you try to remove it you have to try to get Between the seal rear surface and that Shoulder with a strong pick and be gentil on the install so you don't mess up the seal spring

A couple updates - first, I finally solved the varying miss I've been fighting since I got the damn car running. Anyone care to guess what it was? 

Second, I've been going through my budget this weekend, and with the removal of several non-critical(but rather expensive) parts, and a good recoup strategy, I think Bolus & Snopes will be bringing my car this year since Ovid_and_Flem's is awaiting an engine.

I still think wiring issue caused the miss

I think it was with the distributor. Something with how it was advancing? 

You're both getting warm-ish. 

Loose coil wire? 

Incorrect base timing?

Carb?  Lol

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Don't throw me into that briar patch....im just transport driver!

Ask not what brown  can do for you.  Ask what you can do for brown.

Team PLC....Poor Life Choices 

Or Pete Learns a Corvette