Lickin Leaks with Ol John Lee

[Sharps40]

With much anticipation that this repair will work correctly the second time I did it, heres the details on licking another of Ol John Lees leaks....peskey intake manifold gasket at the reare was leaking and then I fixed it and it went from leaking a qt every 250 miles to leaking a quart every 100. So, no leaks after the wipe down and 30 minutes of idleing but tomorrows drive will tell the full story.

For starters, bump the engine around to TDC on the timeing mark for Cylinder #1



Double checking to make sure yer not on the wrong cylinder or stroke, the rotor on a 283 points nearly to the vacuum advance tube which is spark tower #1. Which is nearly in line with the inside rear valve cover bolt of the passenger side bank...good to know when reinstalling the distributer....



Lifting the distributer from its hole will reverse the rotor till it points at the points adjustment screw....even better to know on the reinstall, gets the dizzy in the right cam gear groove and a slight twist away from firing up.



Drain the water before pulling the intake manifold. If the neighbor or wifes cats are thursty, invite em into the garage for a slurp....antifreeze is very good for (killin) unwanted pets like kats.



Dizzy is out, cap is hangin out of the way and I've pretty well broken all the accessories and bolts away from the mainfold...carb stays on the manifold...no sense messin up a proper adjustment.



Gentle, gently, break the seal and slightly lift the mainfold.



Plug all the ports with rags.

[Sharps40]

Plug the valley to keep out the trash and start scrapin and wire brushin.



This is the back side of the felpro gasket. Its labeled which side goes up toward the mainfold, this is the head side gettin a smear coat of blugoo. I only use felpro and permatex blugoo...they both match Ol John Lees paint color...nifty!



I set the gaskets on the warm heads, a few studs to line them up, press down firmly to adhear them and leave em sit for 30 minutes to grap. Note, I put a headless stud on the passenger front...thats to guide the manifold into place...once on, single drop and perfectly lined up...should be no more slipped gaskets or seals or messed up blugoo beads.



A skim coat of blugoo on the underside of the intake ports....a bead of blugoo where the front and rear mainfold seals would ordinarily sit. I am trashcanning the end seals as the blugoo won't slip when I put the manifold on like the seals will.



Manifold drops right down over that single stud and is lined up perfectly in one try for all the bolts. (PS, don't try to drop the mainfold over a headless stud with the oil sender unit installed in the back of the block....won't work! Ask me how I know....a second layer of blugoo later....successful install.)



Just in case....pipe dope (500 degree rated) for the oil sender unit and the threads of every single intake manifold bolt. Keeps out leaks and acts as an antiseeze later.



While I'm at the back, I junked the 49 year old PCV valve hose and installed a new length of 1/2" ID rubber hose to the block side PCV port.

[Sharps40]

Don't forget the new distributer oil gasket that comes in the felpro kit. No blugoo needed here.



See, when the distributer drops back in the vacuum advance points in the general direction of the rear passenger inside valve cover bolt and the rotor turns clockwise from the points adjustment bolt till it points at the same bolt as the vacuum advance port. Nice. Swing it counter clockwise (i.e. vacuum advance towards carb) to bring the timing up - other way to take it down....in any event it shouldn't take more than 1/8th turn of the dizzy to get the truck started from here.



Lookin under the dizzy, make sure the feet of the clamp are on the pad of the dizzy...these old wire clamps will lay beside the base and kinda hold the dizzy against turnin but fail to hold them in...so, feet on the pad, then snug plus 1/2 turn for now....we'll cinch it down after setting the timing when it starts and warms up.



Pretty much, the back end of the manifold is all back together and the raw timeing is close enough to fire the engine whenever I'm ready.



Front end of the intake is back together, alternator bracket back on and water is in the radiator. I'll drive it hard in the morning to burp the air bubble out and then top off the overflow with the fluids that wouldn't go back into the unburped motor.

[Reyals Bemus]

Well photographed and explained!

[Sharps40]

While I was under wipeing off oil and goop from the bell houseing and drips and drops that were gettin flung everwhere....I snapped a shot of the rear of the manifold, passenger side, where it mates to the head. On top you can see the new PCV hose comeing off the PCV fitting in the block and it looks like a good line of blugoo on the passenger side....should remain leak free.



And, same, same, a shot of the rear of the intake, driverside this time, where the manifold meets the head. Ya can see the back of the coil and the oil pressure sender and a good line of blugoo where the manifold meets the head. Hopefully, this leakey side is now sealed.....I'm wipeing off as much free oil as I can for the start up and a 30 minute idle.



These are the front and rear mainfold seals....they didn't get used this time. The originals failed at the rear, causing the 1 qt every 250 miles leak. When I replaced the manifold gaskets the first time, I did it without useing a guide stud and slipped both new seals. Though the front didn't leak at all even though slipped, the rear sure did, to the tune of about a qt per 100 miles. Motor runs too strong, even with a bit of blowby to let it leak so bad. Besides, a daily driver shouldn't need the hood raised daily.



Initial report: A 30 minute idle over white paper and only a couple drips of what appears to be residual oil on the drivers rear motor mount. I checked again after a 4 hour rest in the garage over white paper and no additional drips or drops. I'll give Ol John Lee a good ride tomorrow morning and check for leaks again over the next several days. I'm feelin good about the repair and hope this leak is licked.

Incidently, I set the dwell at 29 degrees, Timeing hot at 6 degrees advance (Ol John Lee gets best mileage and pulls smoothest at 6 degrees advance) and the idle hot at 650 RPM. All is smooth and quiet, except for that very slight exhaust leak at the drivers side heat riser......)

[jonathan-m]

another excellent thread. I've needed to do this to my truck for more than a year now, but I don't have the experience to tackle it head on by myself. This will be an excellent guide for that, thanks!

[Sharps40]

I guess I should note that at the second attempt on installing the intake today, after removing the oil sending unit so I could slip the manifold down the headless stud into place....

I put blugoo on the front and rear of the intake mainfold...and a bead on the front and rear areas of the block overlapping the intake mainfold gaskets with a smear coat.

The mainfold slipped on down that headless stud and stayed home...every screw started by hand so perfect alignment on the first drop. After that, I sealed that oil sender plug threads and screwed it in snug.

[tincan1966]

Nice write up,

Just a suggestion, using a gasket adhesivewill promote sealing. My engine builder recommends Copper Coat spray to set the side gaskets, then Right Stuff RTV sealer front and rear.

[Sharps40]

If it starts leaking again, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

[tincan1966]

If it repeatedly keeps blowin the rear seal, check your pcv. Excess crankcase pressure will cause the seal to fail. I've noticed you have posted several forums on oil leaks, might be something to look at.
I realize you are workig on an old engine, that will be prone to leaks, but the kinds you are fixing are common with pcv issues- oil pan, front cover seal, intake manifold, etc.
Not trying to be a know-it-all, just passing along some info. I learned the hard way a $2.99 part could fix my chasing oil leaks. LOL!

[Sharps40]

Yep...but I got a lotta leaks on this ol motor. The seals and gaskets are plenty dry and rotted.

I replaced the PCV valve first, it was defective and made a slight difference, mostly it was a source of vacuum leak and rough idle. The seals never "Blew Out".

From there we moved to replacing a very worn out front main seal (it was split and the balancer badly grooved) and timeing cover gasket. Was nice, that was kinda pumpin oil out the front.

It took a while but was able to finally determine that the cam welch plug and rear main were not leaking. Kinda had to narrow down whether it was the intake or some other spot, that plug above the oil cannister.

The original intake seals were very dry, cracked and leaking. The set I installed slipped and leaked worse than the cracked seals. This time thru eliminated the front/rear seals in favor of blugoo. I think it'll hold and I think/hope I got the surfaces sealed against leaks. We shall see. I'll report back after a few days ridin.

For now the intake looks like a solid repair but we'll know after an AM ride. If it holds, Cigar Time! If not, Kick in the Buttt Time!

I suspect there'll be some weeps and drips from the oil pan gasket and prolly the rear main someday but I'll deal with em when they crop up. For now, I'm hopen for less raisin the hood and more driving! I'd like to get an idea of the level of oil consumption on this old motor sans leaks!

[MikeS.]

What is the semi round thing in the middle, what is it for?

[MikeS.]

Sharps40, the middle ports where the exhaust gas comes in and warms the fuel air mix is pretty clean. Did you clean these ports out before taking the pics?

On my 283 those ports are clogged full and I'm having a time getting them well cleaned out. Trying not to get a bunch of crud dropped back down the ports.

Thanks!
Posted via Mobile Device

[LT1 Burb]

I think that much silicone plus the fact that you are allowing it to dry before putting the intake on could be hurting you a little. The gasket itself is the sealer, not the silicone.

[geezer#99]

X2 LT1.
If it doesn't leak I'd be suprised!
There should be a test when you buy that silicone.
Classic example of how not to use sealer. More's law to the extreme.
Oh well! Changing out the gaskets a few more times they'll figure it out.

[tincan1966]

OK glad I wasn't the only one really thinking that. That much silicone inside the engine will enventually end up in the oil pump and everywhere else.

[LT1 Burb]

I put semi hermetic compressors together that have to hold at 200 microns in a vacuum and using silicone on gaskets wouldn't do it.

[harpo1313]

yes,the only goop you need on an intake are on the corners.maybe a little gasket tack on the end peices to hold them in place while fitting the manifold back on, and if your not using the end pieces use permatex ultra black.

[64fleetside]

I haven't used end gaskets in 20+ yrs, a bead of good(Ultra black or grey) silicone works great. I've seen too many of the rubber or cork end gaskets leak-many times they simply slide out. I glue the side gaskets to the heads using Gaskacinch, marketed by Edelbrock.

[tincan1966]

My machine shop guy just LOVES blue silicone in engines he rebuilds. LOL!

[sigshooter]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

X2 LT1.
If it doesn't leak I'd be suprised!
There should be a test when you buy that silicone.
Classic example of how not to use sealer. More's law to the extreme.
Oh well! Changing out the gaskets a few more times they'll figure it out.

X3

silicone will let the rubber gaskets slip right out from under the intake and just pour oil out

[geezer#99]

You missed the point sigshooter. THat's not the way to use sealant.
And no fear of the rubber gaskets moving if you don't use them.

[bhc41051]

Thanks for the post Sharpie; you can wrench on my old K14 anytime..

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by MikeS.

What is the semi round thing in the middle, what is it for?

Splash guard for the intake manifold. This one has crossovers from left to right so exhaust gas passes thru the manifold, up into the carb base and warms up the carb quick. The guard keeps a big hunk of carbon from building up on the bottom center of the manifold.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by MikeS.

Sharps40, the middle ports where the exhaust gas comes in and warms the fuel air mix is pretty clean. Did you clean these ports out before taking the pics?

On my 283 those ports are clogged full and I'm having a time getting them well cleaned out. Trying not to get a bunch of crud dropped back down the ports.

Thanks!
Posted via Mobile Device

Mine were only plugged at the base of the carb. Cleaned em out with a vacuum and pick when I replaced the carb. I ran a coat hanger up from the bottom when the manifold was off and there was no more junk in there.