Projects Cutting my Hotrod Teeth (57 Chevy Budget build/revival)

Yup, torqued back down to spec! I’m sort of at my wit’s end with the leaking at this point and I’m not about to take it all back apart again. I guess next week when it goes back to the shop, I’ll ask them to look at it. Done screwing around with it.

 

Pressurized oil from the oil pump p***age (arrow) running between the cap and block.

 

Super clean mating surfaces needed before hand as well.

 

Man I feel like a m***ive idiot. It’s always the simplest things…

Turns out my p***enger side valve cover gasket was folded over on the back bottom corner…

 

Well, on the plus side, the rear main should be leak-free now if it wasn’t already. The old seal was pretty stiff when I took it out, so a leak was probably eventually going to start.

 

Have you looked into valve cover studs? They make install a breeze

 

What I said in post 2592.

Remember what else I said Gr***hopper. Learn. Continue learning. Never give up. Remember your mistakes and learn from them. You have come a long way. There is still a very long path for you to take in your life journey. By your journeys end, you will be a genius in your own mind.

 

That’s a neat idea. I usually glue the gaskets to the covers with gasket maker but didn’t want to do that with my fancy Vette covers.

 

I have some on my 53 I got from O'Reilly. They claim to only work on stamped steel valve covers but fit my finned aluminum covers just fine

 

I’ve been chasing this ticking sound for about a week so figured I’d just post a video of it. I hear it constantly at idle, and at higher RPM it’s either too quiet to hear, or it goes away. I have adjusted the valves twice, first time 1/2 turn after 0 lash, and second time 3/4 turn after 0 lash which it was originally at. I’ve also taken the p***enger side valve cover off and backed off each rocker nut until it clacks, then tightened until it stopped clacking. Nothing has fixed it. What does this sound like?

 

Sounds like an exhaust leak. Possibly between the head and exhaust manifold.

 

That’s what I though the other day so I made sure all 6 bolts were tight, and no change. The gasket on that side was replaced about 6 months ago.

 

There's not supposed to be any gaskets between the head and the manifold. The gasket may have blown out, even though the bolts are tight. Take the gaskets out, clean the mounting surfaces and put it back together, and see if that stops the problem.

 

No gaskets for rams horns manifolds?! You’d definitely know better than me, but that’s a new one. I always thought you needed them with manifolds, not just headers…

 

^^^^^^^^Correct. Even though they sell them in a lot of different gasket sets they are not needed.

 

Wow! Well, like is often said I’m learning a LOT from this thread! Okay, I’ll try removing the gasket. It seems like no gaskets would make it more likely for the bolts to snap off while tightening, no?

 

Not to mention it’s now 60 years later and these parts are probably less flat/straight now than ever before.

 

Are they new or used manifolds?

Heck, even now the manifolds may be wonky.

 

I never used exhaust manifold gaskets on my 60's Shivrola and Ford engines with manifolds and never had an exhaust leak. Headers, yes. Manifolds, no.

 

Dang, I used gaskets on the rams horns on my '57, I would not have guessed they'd be machined well enough to seal without gaskets.

As much as it probably ****ed doing that rear main and oil pan to fix a valve cover gasket, it's definitely nice to have a new rear main seal and oil pan gasket done and in the car, that's just nice for peace of mind.

 

Random manifolds that aren’t even a matching pair. One’s an 80s “corvette” manifold, the other is a ‘57 manifold. Nothing has been machined since I’ve owned it, so for all I know they’re warped to hell.

 

Yeah I’m glad I bit the bullet and did it, even if I have other leaks to fix still. I know the timing chain cover is leaking too, but I’d rather work on the front of the engine than the back.

 

I’ve not had manifolds warp that they didn’t seal, I have had to spread used ones to get the bolts to line up.
But you’d think the gaskets would take care of anything out of kilter.

 

Maybe that manifold has a crack in it.

See any soot?

 

Next question would be how does your pipe seal to the manifold? Many use a "donut" gasket, which can fail or leak if it's not lined up right. I eliminated the heat risers on mine so my pipes have to bolt to a flat, 3 bolt flange, and I got some gaskets and flanges that were actually made to be repair parts for catalytic converters but they worked well to bolt exhaust pipes directly to the manifold without the heat risers. A leak at that point could easily cause a ticking sound, too.

 

So are you guys fairly certain it’s an exhaust leak instead of inside the engine? I ask because, before I spend MY time and money continuing to diagnose it, since It’ll be going back to the shop that did exhaust next week, I’ll just ask them to check their work since they only installed the exhaust a month ago. If it developed a leak in that short amount of time I expect them to be the ones to fix it, not me! Especially considering the amount the full exhaust cost me.

 

Well, you could see if they have a “smoke machine”, pump the smoke in from the tail pipes and see if it’s coming out anywhere.
My buddy bought one a few years back, not sure what he paid, but will check with him when he’s off work today.