lotsa questions

first let me say that while i have had a few 60s and 70s cars I am no mechanic and only know what i no as a result of having to keep my rides running to get to work..that being said i was also the guy that had a cool ride but didnt know how to tear his own motor down,I had a best friend who worshipped the chevy bowtie and kept my **** running right just for kix,I say had a best friend bcause he got on meth and ruined what was left of himself and is locked away for good now.(murderd a guy whos gal he was hitten...but now to my post and delima....I love old cars and old music and always have ,im only 30 but have the morals and respect of someone much older (according to my wife) and it takes a lot for me to say this but,I really dont know **** about these old soldiers i love so much to drive..so i have some basic and probly stupid questions for anyone who wants to chime in,so here goes..whats the proper way to change a valve cover gasket?,and what do you listen for when your checking a rearend ?,is blowby the beginning of the end and are all gasket changes in vain when saveer blowby is present?what do you listen for when checking an old ******?whats the proper way to set the manual choke?and how do you set the timming for the best all aroun performance?..I know these are probbly dumb questions for some but id appreciate this if anyone wants to answer..also the blowby qwestion is important to me cause my old falcons motor stays saturated with oil and im just curios if its because of the blowby??? thanx alot..Johnny

 

hi...it might take a while for you to pickup the decades of car fixing knowledge that many guys here have!

On the blowby question...usually when an engine gets a lot of miles on it and is getting worn out, it will have a lot of blowby, and also use a lot of oil. On older cars (early 60s and older) you'd see a lot of smoke coming out of the vents on the engine, but on newer cars with PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) the PCV system (a valve and a hose, basically) feeds the blowby back into the intake so it will get burned, and you don't see it.

If the engine is not properly vented, like you took out the PCV valve and plugged up the hole it went into, then the blowby will ooze out the gaskets and make a big mess. On old cars this sometimes happens because we like the neat old valve covers that don't have that ugly "smog ****" on them...and wind up screwing up the ventilation system.

Will new valve cover gaskets fix it? who knows! it depends on several things that you didn't mention. maybe some pics of the engine would help us figure it out.

To change the gaskets, it's pretty simple, but you need to clean off all the old gasket stuff and sealer. When you put the new gaskets on, either don't use sealer, or use just a little bit to "glue" them to the valve covers. Globbing on RTV sealer is not a good idea.

Maybe someone else will tackle some of your other questions, each is probalby worthy of a separate thread

 

thanx squirrl ...anybody else??

 

Regarding the blowby question, if you have a PCV valve check to see if it is working properly. Shake it to see if its loose. If so, it probably is ok. If not, try cleaning it with carb cleaner. If you can't get it clean enough, go out a get a new one.

Setting a manual choke is pretty easy. Just make sure it is completely open went off. Honestly, they usually don't go out of adjustment unless some one really tugs on the choke set knob inside. If it remains partly closed when the inside knob is flush with the dash, look at the carb. The cable is usually held in place by a screw and a little plate. Loosen the screw and adjust the cable to make the choke plate full open.

One method of setting the timing is to advance the distributor until you get a slight pinging on hard acceleration and then back off a bit till its gone. You can also set it by a va***n guage.

As far as the rear is concerned, there are at least two items to listen for - a whining when either accelerating or decelerating. Also, any clunks as it turning. Don't worry too much about clunks when putting it in gear (if an auto) unless the clunk is severe which could mean a bad U joint or excess clearances between the ring and pinion..

 

thanx for the response ..i appreciate it..my falcon had a road draft tube and i removed it and ran a hose from where the tube came out of the block and the other end i ran to the air cleaner...i changed the valve cover gasket and for a little while i didnt notice oil on the motor but now the valve cover has light oil all along the flange and the top of my carb under my air cleaner is oily and the little breather on the valve cover is oily ..basically the whole engine feels oily when touched...I was told that it was because of the blowby problem and wouldnt be fixed untill re ringed or rebuilt..sound true?

 

sounds about right. If you put a PCV system on the engine it might make it stay clean longer, but it's hard to say from where I sit, I can't see how much smoke is puffing out of it.