327 - Fuel Issue - Solved!

After our first attempt to start our 327 failed, I went hunting for the problem.  I removed the fuel meter from the FI assembly then removed the spill plunger.  The loose pieces you see make up the spill plunger.  As you recall, the spill plunger regulates fuel flow by diverting recirculating gas to the fuel injectors.

This is a diagram of the spill plunger.  It's a very simple unit with only two moving parts.  The top two.

This is a picture of our spill plunger sitting adjacent to the pieces on the diagram.  Look close and you'll see that we are missing the critical piece that actually diverts the fuel.  The valve face is the second piece from the top.

Since I can't go to Napa and buy this piece I decided to make one.  The one I am holding was reduced in size a little bit more before it was installed.

Here it is installed in the spill plunger body.

The following is a 2 minute video of the spill plunger bench test.  If you have a slow connection you may want to pass on the download.

It was a streaming success!!

327 - Oil Galley Leak - Fixed!

I searched the Internet for Stag sealant but I think it's a produce unique outside the US.  I visited a couple machine shops and both recommended Permatex High Performance Thread Sealant.  This is Teflon tape in liquid form.  The oil galley plug is a pipe plug and the threads are unique for pipe.  They're not coarse or fine thread, they are pipe thread.  Pipe taps are also different from standard taps because they are tapered.  The threads were cleaned with the tap, thread sealant was applied to a new plug, then we waited 24 hours before we tested it.  Success!

After we verified the leak was fixed we started the reassembly process.  The block face was cleaned then the head gasket was positioned and set dry.

The head was also cleaned and prepared for installation.

Because the push rods and rocker arms were not removed from the head, it was decided to apply torque in stages so as not to damage the push rods.  Tool tight was followed by 25, 50, then the full 65 foot pounds of torque.

Before installing the intake plenum, high temperature blue silicone was used around all the water ports.  This is insurance beyond the standard intake gaskets.  In this picture you can see the blue silicone applied in two places on the right head.  The second intake gasket was installed immediately after this picture was taken.

The plenum was set then torqued to 35 foot pounds.

The fuel filter, distributor, coil, plug wires and hangers were all reinstalled.

It took a lot of work to fix this oil leak but we did get to see the internals of our 327.  All-in-all it wasn't that bad. 

Now it's time to focus on the fuel injection unit.