Drive that seal out of there, and get a new one.. You need to re-size the hole in the cover, so the new seal goes in with just a light press fit. I typically have make the hole in the cover .020-.040 bigger. I shoot .007-.010 interference fit. That taps in with a small hammer. I don't get near the press.. that's a good way to break the cover. A die grinder, with a 60 grit cartridge roll, does a good job on making the hole in the cover bigger.. just keep it moving, around the the hole, and work slowly.. JW
Here is an earlier post describing what I did to get my cam timing: "Phil, when you degree your cam make sure that after you install the cam gear bolts, turn the cam counter clockwise and hold it while tightening the bolts. I found that there is ~3 degrees variation possible with the play that exists in the clearance holes. For example the intake centerline (ILC) can vary from 108 to 105 (for a given keyway) depending on which way the cam is held while tightening the bolts! Holding the cam ccw will give you 108 ICL while holding the cam cw will result in 105 ICL. With my TA advance/retard gear Mike T at TA suggested that I rotate the top gear one tooth and make another dot on the gear to get the 107 ICL I was shooting for. While each tooth and keyway on this gear is labeled (8A, 6A, 4A, 2A 0, 2R, 4R, 6R, and 8R) they are not all correct! There was a big difference between 6A and 8A and I spent quite some time "trial and error" to get the ICL I wanted. I finally found a combination that gave me 106.9 ICL with my TA413 cam." By rotating the top gear one tooth (CW) will this effect will how the timing mark aligns with the scale on the timing cover at TDC? Anyone else done this to get the cam timing they wanted? Here is the advance/retard gear and cam gear showing the double dots I added.
Well I answered one of the two questions; the timing mark does still line up. I used a piston stop to verify it. This thing is going in (again) within a few days!
With the amount of indexing grooves available on the crank sprocket, shouldn't need to reorient the upper one, unless the cam was really off on its index during grinding. Just goes to show that degreeing every cam, even dead stockers, is important enough to call it mandatory.
Yes, I agree you shouldn't, but it was required due to the big jump between 6A and 8A keyway positions. Here's the details: 2A -->111.8 ICL 4A -->110.1 6A -->109.2 8A -->104.5 Could not get close to 107 with any keyway by aligning the stock dot in the cam gear! These measurments were taken multiple times, I think my rings are already seated! ou:
slinger i used a neroprene seal without a slinger without any leaks but i did have to get a speedysleeve for the balancer so the rubber wouldnt be ripped up by the serrations in the balancer andy:blast:
Andy, so the speedysleeve spaced the balancer out just enough so the rough section of the balancer did not ride inside the seal? Thanks.
SpeedySleve has a rounded end and a straight end. Straight end goes onto the balancer first, and the rounded end is supposed to hold it between slinger and balancer as the bolt/balancer is tightened. I take the balancer and true it up in my lathe, then Lock-Tite and install the sleeve, then trim the rounded end off in the lathe. rounded end isn't thick, same thickness of the sleeve material itself. Also, it sounds like the cam grinder needs to go back to school on indexing the grinding machine and core. Lots of that going on with off-brand cams lately. I use UltraDyne anymore, they work the first time, and degree in easily, every time. And Harold Brookshire definatley knows his cam stuff.
Reconstruction is complete. First 100 miles and nothing but smiles! Dr. Gas X-Pipe exhaust was installed today at 2 pm. Noticably more power than previous build (440HP in Oct.). Also pulls strong way past 5000 rpms, but have not went past 5400 rpms yet. I could not tell you how many thumbs up I got today :beer I even had an 80 year old lady rolled down her window to tell me "your car sounds great" :TU: I never thought that would happen.... From answers to parts there are many people to thank here on this board, you know who you are. I owe you one!!!!!!! There's one more strong Buick on the road. Next phase, fine tuning.
Good Job Craig! You should get a medal for sticking to it! Hope you experience a million miles of fun it that car.
Great Job!!! Got to give you credit for patience! I know too many who would have thrown the towel in after what you went through. All for the love of your Buick!! Keep up the good work and Happy Motoring!!! :TU: :beer :TU: :beer :TU:
Not out of the woods yet... Well, it looks like I've got an internal coolant leak :ball: I noticed Fri. morning the coolant level went down ~2", after I topped it off Thur night, so I decided not to drive it to work. Today I re-torqued the head bolts, each bolt rotated from 1/5 to 1/3 a turn. I did not know they would go that much! Then I did a leak-down test on all the cylinders. For each cylinder I looked in the radiator for bubbles (never saw any). I pressurized each cylinder to 100 psi. This test was done cold and the pressure maintained was between 81 and 91 for all cylinders. I then drained the oil and changed the filter. I think there was some coolant in the oil, here's the picture. There was no "milkshake" or signs on the dip stick. There are some bubbles...It looks worse in the picture. My fingers were crossed and I topped off the radiator again an hour ago. I just went to look and the level was on the way down . It had changed a 1/8" in ~15 minutes. The funny thing is it only drops a couple of inches overnight then stops. If I drive it the level will go down more and the temperature goes higher than it should when sitting in traffic ~220 or so. There is a hole in the thermostat about 1/8" in diameter to eliminate an air bubble. I'm at a loss, could it be the timing cover or intake water port not sealed. How can I identify were the leak is? I just sucked the top 2" of coolant back out with a syringe to minimize coolant draining into the oil (again).
I have seen an intake do it a couple of times, but it's usally head gaskets(I know nobody wants to hear that). I've seen timing covers leak but always out not in towards the oil.
Thanks Kevin, I'm thinking intake (or should I say ~hoping). The heads have me curious too. See the "damn shop" did the valve job and then had to do the valve job again when they did not seal. I'm sure they are deeper in the head than most, the valve stem heights are right at 2.1", with the #2 exhaust the tallest at 2.123". I've used .060 shims to help with the valve train geometry. Also, these heads were home ported by me, read no previous porting experience. The #1 and #3 or the #2 and #4 were checked by another shop when they were flowed (can't remember which head I took ). These ports averaged 260/175 at .5" @ 28". A leakage test was also done on these ports and was ~4%. When the radiator coolant level gets below the hole I put in the thermostat the coolant leves stops going down (when the motor sits and is not run). If I pressureize the cooling system and listen for a leak do you think its possible to localize the leak? I do have a stethoscope. I'm almost ready to just remove the intake..almost . The heat crossover in these heads have been blocked off. Another detail on my intake sealing, silicone was used around the water ports and to the edge of the head where it meets the rail, I also extended the silicone to the edge of the Gasgacinch gasket sealer around the intake ports. I'm using the SP-1 intake with the composite .032" gaskets. Sealing on both sides of the gaskets were done the same way.
EEKS! I dont think its common place to have used any sealer on the composite gaskets at all other than to secure them from moving on installation. How much were your heads and block cut when rebuilt? Since your leak seems to stop once the water level gets below the thermostat which just so happens to be at about the same level as the water ports in the heads I think thats where your leak is going to be. Until you get it figured out run only straight water in the motor as a little water really wont kill engine bearings but the same amount of antifreeze will kill them quickly. :ball: Are you using the valley pan as an oil baffle? I've seen them mounted incorrectly causing water leaks also. Personally I use the valley pan even with aluminum intakes because I've had probs with two different sets of composite gaskets.
Craig, I think if there was much coolant at all in the oil you would have the milkshake you mentioned. Also, if there was some antifreeze in your oil and it didn't foam, it should be at the bottom of the pan when you pour it out(water being denser than oil). You really should get a pump and pressurize the cooling system and look for leaks. A head gasket, cracked head, etc =white smoke on startup at least, or bubbles in the radiator. Sometimes a crack is sneaky because they only leak when the engine is hot. The head gasket could be leaking externally too. Also, if the leak is external and slow, sometimes the coolant will evaporate on the engine before it starts dripping. look for funny colored streaks or puddles on your engine. Is it possible you ground through the water jacket in an exhaust port?
I looked everything over very closely yesterday. The only thing I found externally on the engine was some oil leakage, the culprit...loose oil pan bolts. I've corrected that and cleaned off the associated oil leaks (not enough to drip onto the floor). I'm currently using water and 12 oz's of water wetter only in the radiator (thanks for the tip David), I'll continue doing that for now. I also loosened the oil pan drain plug yesterday morning to see if the first drop(s) were water and it was oil and still quite clean. During and after initial start up I noticed a few things that got my attention; there was a plastic like smell (thought it was the paint at first), there were a few drops of water out each header (~5) and the motor ran rough. After I shut it off I found one spark plug wire dis-connected, and it was laying on the header. I plugged it in and it ran much better but the faint smell of plastic was still there. Also, after turning the engine off I saw under the car some white smoke smoldering from the muffler on the drivers side, this was before the full exhaust was installed.
Wait a minute, if the level of coolant in the radiator was below the level where it leaks, which it was during the compression test, then I would not see any bubbles when pressureizing the cylinders right? I would just see a slightly lower pressure for that cylinder if it was the head gasket. Here was the actual readings during the test; #1--81 psi, 2--91, 3--90, 4--89, 5--86, 6--81, 7--91, 8--91. Number 1 looks most suspisious because it is low and is close to the water jacket. Maybe I should try number 1 again with the coolant (water level) to the top? Sound logical?
Craig, I had to move up to the .060" intake gaskets and got the ones with the impregnated silicone beads. I had a slight coolant leak on the drivers side water passage that I only found because of my lifter debacle, when I pulled the intake there was a small puddle of cooland on the AMP valley shield ( I think you've got the same shield) so it must have just been weeping out of that port. I've since done a pressure test on the cooling system and have it good and tight.
Thanks Len, where did you get these gaskets? I've been using the .032" composite gaskets from TA. I have matched my intake to these gaskets perfectly so I will probably go with the same brand. The openings are somewhat larger than most other intake gaskets. And yes, I do have the AM&P shield.
