Technical 1957 Chevrolet 235 oil plug leak question

I've got a customers 51 Chevy in here and it's got a later 57 235 in it. There's a huge oil leak right above the pan rail between the fuel pump and the distributor. It looks as though it may be a pipe plug but there is no head on it and it's just leaking constantly out of the hole. Is there supposed to be a soft plug pushed into this or is it a pipe plug and just missing the outside or something. I looked around the internet to see if anybody had mentioned anything about it and haven't found anything yet. Stop by the local machine shop tomorrow morning and see what they say as I'm sure they know what's going on with it and what should be there. Here's a couple of pictures for reference thanks all

 

remove the plastic plug, put in a 1/8" pipe thread plug, perhaps?

 

The plug or whatever it is isn't plastic it's magnetic so it's either steel or cast-iron. Going to try and get it out with an easy out right now and see what happens

 

So I stuck the easy out in there and I went all the way through to the camshaft I guess and the peace that I thought was a plug is just a washer and it looks like it's been drilled into. I've got an earlier 216 here but it does not have that plug or port . hmmm?

 

Next move Carrie?

 

Yep got to plug it with something. The hole is too small for a 1/8" pipe plug.

 

I'll check tomorrow and see if I can thread a 12 24 in there if not we shall see what happens

 

It's the outside of the rivet that holds the mount for the oilpump and distributor in the block. there should be two of them one on each side of the distributor just above the pan rail

 

Not rivets for oil pump mount. Look below oil fill tube boss at what appears to be a slotted screw head on this 53' 235.

 

So I went to the local machine shop Adams metalizing and grinding here in Lancaster California. The engine builder David told me that that screw holds a tin plate which is a baffle for the oil filler and it was just a sheet metal screw that screws into that. So I got a sheet metal screw and some silicone and put it in there and everything is good, thanks all

 

What happened to the baffle & was it not necessary ?

 

Apparently there's two screws that hold it in and just the one was missing. I guess it may be necessary as it might throw oil out of the Breather too much but it still had the other screw holding it in

 

The outer screws on a GMC which is similar have copper seal washers on them. Many racers in the past removed the crankcase fill tube and installed a freeze plug. Aftermarket breathers were added to the rocker arm cover and the side of the oil pans. Probably not the case here.
I believe you can see the upper one next to the front side oil filler tube on both engines. It appears to be a rivet which would be less expensive for the manufacturer.