-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My oil pump housing shot oil today (@ the bolt location that has to be installed inside the cover under the filter )when I primed the pump. It could be one of two things that I can tell. One is that the ear that protrudes from the pump cover with the bolt threads in it is partially broken on the outside. It still has adequete threads and does not compromise the sealing surface on the back side for gasket compression. I don't think that is it it's so small and on the front. The other item is a booster plate from postons. While running the drill, oil spurts at this area and when I disassembled it, it had enough of a gap between the pump housing and the booster surface that red engine paint had seeped into this area after the bolts had been torqued. I reassembled with a new gasket and the same result almost like that surface area is open. Could that booster plate be a little off on the surface or could it be that ear.
Just a suggestion, but did you check the pump housing and the pump cover for straight ? Just thinking that if paint is bleeding in, there is something warped there. The booster plate is steel correct ? So I would assume(theres that word,lol) that the aluminum housing or pump cover have changed. Also an even torque would be required on all the bolts too. If one of the ears is cracked I wouldn't think it would pull even. Just something to think about. Let us know what you find out.
Took off booster plate and bolted up cover direct After removing the steel plate and bolting the oil pump cover directly to the housing I got the same result. Right around the ear that has been broken off the oil seeps out when pressurized. It all might be starting to come together now. Seems that if that ear was broken off then it most likely would have had the force to bend the surface up out of square as well. With the close tolerances I don't believe a thicker gasket will work and would probably yeild the same result is there another route other than shelling out 500 for a new one or a little less for a used one that may be worse than this one. I don't think i can machine it down without getting into the oil gears when it bolts back together. Has anyone used something I'm not thinking of. o No:
The problem here is the timing cover. It's pretty unlikely that the booster plate would have benn machined wrong. All the companies get the booster plates from the same manufacturer. You will either need to 1, find another good used cover, 2, find someone who is really good at working with alum, ie , welding and machining back to the EXACT factory spec ( this will probably be pretty costly) , or 3, just suck it up and buy the new cover, incidently, they are not $500, you already have the oil pump gears, booster plate and oil filter housing right? I know they are not cheap, but, considering how important the timing cover is to these engines, it will be worth it. Jim Burek
I guess I need to drop my cryin towel now and get er done Thanks for the Kick Jim :Brow: I have a good offer on a used cover from one of the guys here and I'll take him up on it. Jim my block is a 72'. do the oil passages in the covers vary from year to year or does it matter? This cover has the gear oiler in it. Thanks, Rich
The later covers have larger oil passages, these are usually the ones with a 12 degree timing mark as opposed to the 8 degree mark. Jim Burek
