My 427 SOHC Build..... Finally the time has come!

[jayb]

You are on the right track with the rubber band behind the distributor O-ring, and I would stick with the wedge shaped one; that's what Ford uses.  With that rubber band behind it, it will be harder to push into position, but then it will seal when you finally get it in there.  Spray some WD-40 on the outside of the O-ring and try it again; if you can get it in there I'll bet that will solve your problem.

It's weird that you can't get the spark plug tube O-rings to seal; pushing them down always seems to work for me.  Adding a second one on each tube ought to solve the problem.

[sixty9cobra]

You might have to jog the engine to get the distributer back in the oil pump drive might not be lined up perfectly.

[cobracammer]

With the rubber band behind the o ring on the distributor, it slips into the oil pump shaft, but just does not seat all the way down flush with the Intake manifold.  Like Jay was saying, I could try to oil it up a bit to get it down a little.  Also, I would think if I placed the hold down on top of it and started to tighten it down, it may push down on it a little and seat it more?  I am going to go up to home depot tomorrow and get some additional O rings for the spark plug tubes as well as stop and get fresh oil and a new oil filter and do an oil change while I am down there.  I am about 50 miles into the engine and I read somewhere that its good to do an oil change about 50 miles in.

Also, Jay....  When do I have to check the rockers?  I do not hear anything weird, and seeing that oil is spraying out of the spark plug O ring gaps,,,,  Plenty of oil being sloshed around in there.  Do I only need to check them if and when I hear something weird?

Thanks again!

[Barry_R]

Working on a similar valve cover/spark plug tube o-ring issue right now.  Tubes were supplied with a thin cross section o-ring.  There are a couple different cross section thicknesses on O-rings - you/we need the thicker diameter ring material.  I have found a couple, just need to hunt down more of them.

[WConley]

Wow - It sure seems like you're building crankcase pressure to have that much oil coming out so soon.  You mentioned that the PCV system is now gone. 

Are those breathers doing their job or are they somehow blocked?

Strange...  I could understand a few oil drips over several days, but that much up top in a few minutes suggests that it's getting pushed.

[cobracammer]

The oil only seeps out at higher RPM's, not at idle.  The valve cover cork gaskets had to be tightened down quite a bit due to "shrinkage".  Due to this, the O rings were really touching the lip of the copper spark plug tube nor the bottom groove of the Valve cover to make a seal.  So much so that the oil slapping around from the rockers was just working its way up the spark plug tubes on onto the top of the engine.

I went down to Home Depot today and found a similar diameter O ring.  It is a little thicker than the original, but the only way you can tell is side by side installed on the copper tube.  I put the new "larger" O ring at the top against the lip, and the original smaller O ring at the bottom to seat against the groove in the valve cover.  Hopefully this will work.  I did notice that the O rings compress at an angle, so it seems the valve covers bolts are tightened unevenly, but not by much.  Each spark plug tube now has 2 O rings.

Then on to the Distributor.

Long story short, I took off the angled O ring that came with the distributor, and tried to place it in the machined hole in the intake .  It ended up being a slightly smaller diameter that the hole ( did not contact the sides of the hole)  When I put this wide rubber band into the grove and then put the angled O ring on top of it, it was still to thick to get into the hole.  I tried WD40 as Jay stated, but no luck.  Then I tried putting the angled O ring into the distributor groove, and then placing the wide rubber band over it (Like a blanket, so you can not see the angled O ring).  Then when I slipped it into the intake hole, it fit snugly!!!!  With a little push downward, it was just about flush!  So I made sure that the distributor was positioned correctly and then tightened down the tie down.  All back together!!!

Before I start it up, test the timing again and go for a test drive, I purchased a new Oil filter and another 9 quarts of 10W30 conventional motor oil.  I want to clean the engine off again on the bottom and do the oil change......  then off for the testing.

[cobracammer]

Short video in 2nd gear post oil change.....http://youtu.be/IHdbZH-kCCI

[cobracammer]

Cleaned and dried the little "well" near the distributor.  Then packed TA-31 gasket sealer into that area.  Let it cure for 4 days.  Cleaned the oil drippingsfrom other areas below the possible leak area.

Idled in the driveway.  No leak.  Then went for another drive, maybe 2 miles.  Back in the driveway and the oil was back on the same areas.  Seems to only leak under load, so I cant find the leak while idling in the driveway.  At a loss on the leak, but the car runs well.  Still a little smoke at startup, and as Jay said, I need to put some more miles on the engine for proper ring seal.  I also read that there is a possible situation of excessive crankcase pressure until proper ring seat.  For now, all I can do is put some more miles on the car and see what happens.

[machoneman]

I do remember reading long ago that John V. (in SuperFord magazine when John commanded the last page as FoMoCo's official tech writer) carried a squirt bottle of something like Simple Green. After a road trip in his SOHC powered Galaxie, hauling his supercharged SOHC powered ski/drag boat, he'd need to clean up the engine engine bay. I guess having a lot more areas where oil could leak out is a real bitch with Cammers.

Here's John rig after a Detroit to Long Beach, CA drive! Insane!

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/2010show/huntingtonroger/html/huntingtonroger_23.php

[cobracammer]

Ok, got back out there today to see if I could narrow down this leak.  After I had the engine warmed up, I popped the hood and manually held the throttle open around 2500 RPM.  I can see that the leak was not stemming from the distributor or its O ring ( possibly never was, but at least we have excluded it from possibility).  The area on the block where oil accumulates and is easy for me to see is down below te drivers side head where the oil filter adapter is.  Oil ended up pooling there again at 2500 RPM, and while looking at the distributor, no leak.

I can only assume that the intake manifold is leaking through the TA-31.  I dont see any leaks in the valve cover gaskets and I dont see anywhere else on the front cover it can be coming from.  I also think I may have figured out the smoke at cold start!  This oil leak ends up thinning out and running down the side of the engine.  When it does this, it runs down my headers and ( I believe) getting into the slip style fittings.  Possible that its getting into the exhaust and burning up down by the O2 sensor where each seperate exhaust pipe slips into the collector.  Just a guess, but the oil is definately all on the headers as well.  I dont see a way around pulling the intake manifold and re-sealing the whole thing up.  Just sold is house, so I am not sure if I can get to this here soon, but I have a brand new tube of TA-31 and a new set of the valve cover gaskets Jay suggested from (SCE?).

[jayb]

If it does turn out to be the front intake seal, I wonder why it didn't leak there on the dyno?  With the dyno pulls running the engine to 6500 RPM, it should have been leaking a whole bunch if that front rail wasn't sealed.  Very strange...

[turbohunter]

Oil can travel in weird ways.
If it was mine I'd just run it and get some miles on it, watch the oil level and let the oil on the outside of the engine get a little dirt on it so you can trace where it's coming from by seeing fresh oil.
I wouldn't pull it apart just because you think it might be coming from some place.
Enjoy it for a while.

[cobracammer]

Not sure.  Disnt smoke the first time I started it either.  Thats why I think te smoke is from oil getting into the slip joint in the headers.  Wish I could just find the point of the leak. Lol

[Heo]

Pretend its a  British motorcycle then its a indicator
that you have oil in the engine 

[cobracammer]

Ok 100% sure about smoke out of the tailpipe.  Oil dripping from rear most header bolts onto the header pipe.  Then running down the headers to the slip collector and getting into the exhaust!!!  So ring seal isnt the issue, and I feel better that its just oil getting into the exhaust down "field".

The crappy part is even with the car running, I do not see where that oil comes from!  It is not coming from the valve cover gaskets.  It does not appear to be coming from the rear of the passanger head, and other that that, i dont see where else it could come from.  But can see it dripping off the rear most header bolt onto the headers and running down into the slip joint of the collector.  This is the cause of the smoke.  I spend 40 min under the car with engine running, and with a flashlight.... cant find the source of the leak.  Thoughts?

Drivers side leak only occurs at higher RPM's, so didnt find that one either.