What to do next?

Oh thank God. I thought i messed up big time. So just go through the normal intake removal steps (drain antifreeze etc.) and then reseal it. Change the oil and run a quart through. Sound good? And i wouldnt have to drain the block right, just the radiator?

 

DOH!!!ou: We've all done things stupid like this. no biggie. you won't see the antifreeze in the oil from the top because oil floats on water. You could possibly drain just the water from the oil pan untill you get only oil drain about another quart out then put the plug back in and get the engine fully warmed up to evaporate what water is left in the oil. But oils cheap so drain it all out.

Assuming your removing the intake you can drain the radiator to just below the height of the intake manifold (more than likely it is and it's sitting in your oil pan. )

draining the radiator removes 90% of the antifreeze out of the coolant passages. Sorry won't get it out of the oil pan. but you don't need to completely drain the radiator. must most of it.

 

be sure to put NEW end seals and bath tub in. glad to see you got the grommet.

 

Why new pan and seals...?

And forgot to mention after replacing the grommet, some noise was cut down and the carb gained ALOT of suction compaired to before. The rest of the noise is from that rear valley end seal leak.

 

they are cheap insurance to prevent any problems......deformed rear seal maybee

 

oh ok. Should i put rtv between the valley pan and intake as well? Cuz i didnt do that before, just between the valley pan and heads

 

I gave mine a very thin coating on both sides, let it sit for 24 hrs to fully cure and had no leaks at all

 

Thanks guys! Ill probably tackle this on saturday. Or i might get the taking apart done tomorrow and the rest saturday :TU:

 

make sure too, when you pour the qt of oil in pour it over the lifters to purge the coolant that may have settled on and in them

 

Check! :beer

 

You can clean up the old valley pan. However, it is time consuming to get it good as new and not bend/deform it. With your untouched heads that intake should seal very well.

 

Started the day by goin to Autozone and pickin up my new valley pan and rubber seals, some more oil, antifreeze and oil filter.

Spent all day replacing the intake seals, valley pan, adjusting the driver side rocker arm, and flushing the coolant out of the oil.

Test drove it a few hours ago and it was running pretty nice. Idle was good and it didnt die when put in drive. No more rear intake vacuum leak. Finally covered that EGR hole that was there. Also found that most of the air noise was coming from the thing on the intake pictured below. So i took the threaded plug from my old intake and fit it in there. NO MORE VACUUM NOISE!!! minus the carb suction of course. I gotta get the threaded rod that holds the air cleaner on for a 4bbl. Cuz my 2bbl one is too small so i cant put my air cleaner on.



My test drive wasn't perfect though. Upon acceleration there was pinging and some..sputtering in the acceleration. Im thinkin carb issues for the sputtering? Maybe trash clogging it? Maybe fuel filter? Maybe fuel pump?

The pinging im not so sure about. Im thinkin it might be from the lifters? When the car is idling there is no pinging. Only when i give it gas does it ping. Also the white smoke is for the most part gone during idle and in drive. But again when i get on it, the smoke really comes out.

Still happy though that i fixed the vacuum loss and noise and i drove it a little farther and faster.

 

Brian I think you've got a few more places that need plugs. That one you circled is for the tube that goes to your brake booster. but it looks like you have another that is half covered by your carburetor in that picture.

Also have you put caps over nearly all the ends of the carburetor? You really should route a hose from the PCV valve to the front bottom center of your carburetor.

If you can post a picture looking down showing all of the intake centered on the carburetor we should be able to help you out. also snap a photo of the front of the carb and the best you can from the rear.

What year is that intake? you may want to look at the vacuum hose routing for your car.

the pinging is a bad thing. running lean can cause it, and too much timing, or too low of octane rating of fuel.

 

That picture was definetely not from today. That was from last week before i fixed all the leaks. I was just using it for reference to that circled thing i plugged. All of my lines are hooked up now and ones needed to be plugged are done too. The intake is 72 like my engine. Just has the EGR. I routed the PCV to the front as well.

The pinging is the mystery

 

This is good news Brian! We need to know if you have either a noisy valvetrain or pre-ignition (pinging).

 

OOOOOK , if the car and engine is a 72 then it is a factory low compression engine....made to run on regular gas... but back then even the unleaded gas was better than what we get today....use premium gas and set the timing with a timing light.... You need to get one of the Buick guys up there to help you set the dist up with a good curve and clean and lube the mech advance system, put in a points eliminator kit [if you are still running points] and ck out the vac advance canister for leaks....and over advancing,,, if the little rubber collar on the actuater arm ages and crumbles all to pieces, it will cause the vac advance to over advance.... a mr. gasket advance curve kit has a brass bushing in it that will cure this problem.... and give an increase in hp and gas milage....I hate to be a pessimist, but I think that you still need to go thru that engine.... white smoke is a sign that the rings are not holding on accelleration....butttttt , what you have done so far will help you get by untill you can do the job.... Money is always tight with me , so I do an engine progressively,,, tear down, inspect, get machine work done at the machine shop, then start buying parts in stages,,,first the new gaskets, then the mains,,, then the rod brgs,,, cam bearings,,,, cam,,, then lifters,,,, You get the idea.....
Before long I have a well built engine on the bench....
Do what you know how to do, ask questions here on the board, get some mechanic to show you ... or for instance, if you dont know how to properly install a set of rings, take the piston/rod assembly to a shop and pay them to just install the rings,,, and watch and learn,,,,, pick up the basics first... an engine will run and perform well if you just bolt it together like the factory says.... follow the shop manual.... KNOWLEDGE IS POWER... power to be independant,,, if you build the engine , that will increase your confidence and make you independant on some one else in the future....go for it.
BTW,,, You might ought to take it easy on that engine untill you do get it rebuilt,,, it is telling you that it has problems when it is making noise and smoking on accelleration.... you dont want to stack a main brng. or turn a cam brng... for sure.... it gets a lot more expensive.....:blast:

 

:gp: my 72 was low comp and the "emission" tag calls for 91 octane gas

 

That's the research octane rating.:spank: It really calls for 87 octane. (R+M)/2