One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward

We have had to take a small step backwards to make a leap forward in finishing some needed repairs.One of the old bugs in the car has been an oil leak at the main seal, it's been there since creation. We tried to fix it before the Chihuahua race, and thought it was a done deal, but it came back and has been a worry since. The main seal is between the oil pan and the block, at the back of the motor where the flywheel is connected to the crankshaft. A leak here could mean oil getting on the clutch disk, and then, that's all she wrote. The leak never seemed that bad to me, I mean, hey, what's a couple of drops, but Rick has a thing, so it was time to dig in and find the problem.
In taking it all apart, we found that a roller bearing that sits inside the end of the crankshaft had started to slide out of itself, not good, the flywheel needs resurfacing and the clutch was toasted. In this particular block, there is an adaptor plate used to house the main seal, this is where the problem originated. The idea was that maybe this adaptor wasn't right and to replace it. Because the headers have been changed, we could now completely remove the oil pan with out having to take out the motor and get a good look at things. Unfortunately, everything looked fine, no cuts or wear, no visual problems. OK, now what? Well, someone decided to do something almost unheard of and very unusual in engine building, read the directions! And there it was, in black and white, it said, "remove the locating dowel". A locating dowel is a round, one inch piece of medal, used on most of the GM blocks to center the main seal. With this particular adaptor, it's not used. As far as the clutch, we tossed out the Ram clutch we used and went with one made by a small company called Superior Clutch , they make a Kelvar disc that's supposed to be top notch, we'll see.

Well, after just a small freak out, one of the oil pan bolts wasn't tight and there was still a leak, we think we have a major problem solved. I put about a hundred miles on the car yesterday and no sign of any oil, wheeew!

Next Time: Gremlins

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