Oil pooling in Cam Tower

[So Cal Mark]

the dizzy uses both an o-ring and flat gasket, if it has oil inside around the pickup, the inner seal is leaking. . Only the top two ex studs will leak oil. Excess crankcase pressure will cause leaks everywhere, it can be a major concern.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I took the flat gasket off of my old distributor. Tried to find a new o-ring at auto zone, but they are all too thick. I also took a shot at the exhaust manifold stud with JB-weld. I know it probably won't hold, but I had to at least try it. It's only good to 600 degrees. I wonder how hot that part of the head gets.

In regards to high crankcase pressure... how would I test for that?

[So Cal Mark]

the only way really is to check for ventilation through the breather hose to the air cleaner. If the oil level is overfilled or you have excess pressure you may get oil up through the dipstick tube. The exhaust can easily get to 600F, but the stud shouldn't

[baltobernie]

Permatex recommends their hi-temp sealant #1372 for the exhaust studs. I'll let you know how it works in another couple of weeks.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I don't know for sure if the JB-weld is going to hold up long-term, but it seems like it's working for now. The packaging claims a shear strength of 3590 lbs. I'm leery of torquing it too far and pulling it out.

The distributor is still leaking. I think that's where all of the oil is coming from. I need to get the correct seals.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I'm at a loss. I've replaced all of the seals in my distributor (inner shaft seal, o-ring and base gasket), yet it continues to leak oil all around the base gasket. How could this still be happening? I would think that the only way it could leak with all new seals is if the crankcase pressure is too high. There is some air coming out of the crankcase breather hose, but it seems like less air than I've previously felt coming out of the hose.

[manoa matt]

I've had that problem with the distributor base gasket. After ordering and trying several gaskets from the vendors I decided to make my own. The problem with the vendor gasket is that it is too thin and does not have enough surface area.

I made my own gasket using a thicker gasket material. Don't go too thick or you will change the gear lash between the distributor drive gear and the cam gear. If you have one of those circle templates made from green plastic like architects and designers used then making the gasket is much easier. A compass will also work well. Cut the inner circle the same diameter as the distributor shaft. Make the outer diameter the same as the machined surface on the cam tower box.

When the distributor is installed you can still see some of the gasket. The vendor gaskets would leak within two weeks of installation. My homemade gasket has not leaked a drop in several months.

It may be time to check the condition of your cyclonic trap (crankcase breather system) and all the hoses associated with it.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

My base gaskets both leaked within 1 minute of installation. I'm going to pull the intake manifold and clean out that cyclonic trap. I've been suspicious since I got the car that it isn't working quite right.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

Okay... so how's this for a solution?

When I upgraded my carb to a 32/36 dfav, I had to change out my air cleaner to fit the top of the carb. I got an EMPI rectangle box with a hookup for the cyclonic separator breather hose, as my original had. In order to make it fit, I had to add some length to the breather hose. I added too much hose, and created an "s" trap at the bottom of the hose. Oil had pooled in the bottom of the hose, and crankcase gasses had to become pressurized to push bubbles through the oil trap. I cleaned it out, shortened the hose, and the crankcase gasses are now being properly vented into the airbox. Thanks for pushing me in that direction, Matt.

The excess pressure was causing the oil in the cam towers to completely submerge the cams while running. The oil in the breather hose was like butter, emulsified with water. Without proper ventilation, condensation in my crankcase wasn't burning off. I'm glad I was able to figure it out before I took the intake manifold off. I wasn't looking forward to that. Now I need to take a long drive to air out my crankcase.

[manoa matt]

How long have you been running the car with the blockage in the vent? Driving the car for a while will burn off some of the water vapor unless there is alot. What does your oil look like? Is there any "milky white" residue on the dip stick when you pull it out.

After your drive, drain out about a cup of oil and let it sit overnight to see if anything seperates out. You may want to change the oil just in case. (cheap insurance)

Glad you found the problem before anything serious happened. Keep us posted on results.

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

I guess it blocked itself up about 2 weeks ago. That's when I started to notice oil leakage from the cam towers. I haven't been driving it anywhere, as I have a couple of other cars and I didn't want to drive it until I knew what was happening. The oil in the tube was milky, but the crankcase oil was fine. I just did an oil change this afternoon, and everything looked fine.

[So Cal Mark]

be careful with that aftermarket air cleaner. the breather port inside is less than half the diameter you need to vent the crankcase properly.

[ventura ace]

. . . and if it is 1/2 the diameter, it is 1/4 the area. That's really choking it.

Alvon

[HOLLYWOODSPIDER]

The hose fitting that came on the carb had an opening thru it no larger than a pencil. I bought the largest diameter pcv elbow at AutoZone, and spent about 5 minutes with a dremel to grind the hole in the base plate to fit. It's just a hair smaller than the original air cleaner's fitting.

[So Cal Mark]

that will help alot! Now, make sure you can tee the small vacuum hose into it