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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

327 - The Oil Leak, Up close and Personal

 First of all I'd like to thank Ausy Pete for coming up with a possible solution to fix our oil leak without removing the head.  I tried it but unfortunately it didn't work.  The plug was just too deep.  It was a great recommendation though.  As you'll recall this is where we suspected our oil leak was located.  I spun the oil pump again and sure enough this is it, an oil galley plug.  This will require major dis-assembly of our 327.  Double click on the following pictures to see the details.



I used plastic wire ties to hold the push rods in place.  This head is coming off then going right back on within a day or two.


Look at the size of these valves.


 I don't know about you but this is just about the prettiest set of pistons I've seen in awhile.




And here's the culprit.  It was only installed tool tight, nothing near the recommended 20 ft pounds.  I'll clean up the threads then apply a small amount of Permatex Ultra-Blue (a high temperature oil resistant silicone), torque, then start the reassembly process.  A nice set of Fel-Pro gaskets has already been purchased so we are ready to reassemble.

Thanks for watching.

7 comments:

  1. John
    I noticed what seems to be some centre punches around the plug and a bit of ovality to the right, make sure you check if the thread is not damaged , it may pay to tap it a couple on turns deeper if it looks sus, Its NPT, we have BSP NPT and a few Japanese standard over here!!I hope it hasnt been stripped if so just go deeper. We use Stag jointing compound on our dry seals when they leak, it can be thined with Metho great for steam ,water, oil
    I sure do like those pistons though!! I have to change mine as it was rebuilt for 9:1 :(
    I pick up my old Girl tomorrow :)
    cheers Ausy Pete

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  2. Pete,

    Threads are perfect all the way down to the seat. I am positive the leak was due to no torque. Ovality isn't an issue, what you see is a little burr grinding I did to improve access with the allen wrench when the head was still on. I'll look into the Stag joint compound. Thanks. Let us know how it goes with your Corvette tomorrow.

    John

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  3. Ok John
    got my ol girl was a lot of fun driving home on 7 cylinders!! looks like I have a trip to eagle Autos in the morning for some parts. Esme gave me some nice knucle burns to get acquaitned.
    But man is it loud, she is running a rather warm 350 at the moment
    cheers Ausy Pete

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  4. John
    looking at those pistons, what Octane do you intend to run, compression should be 11:1
    cheers Ausy Pete

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  5. Highest octane I can find Pete. Maybe aviation fuel. Racing fuel? Octane booster? Don't know Hadn't thought about it. Recommendations?

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  6. Hmm
    I wont be much help we can still get 98 Octane here, the motor coming my way has flat tops and has been detuned to 9:1 to run on 85 RON pump gas, Octane booster I guess for you but that will keep you busy, we carnt run Av gas here now to Exy and not legal the smell kind of gives it away !!!
    cheers Ausy Pete

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