oil leaking out of distributor

Just got my 1948 59ab running it started to leak out of the dist.vent hole?i am using a stock dual point with a crab cap.It is not just dripping it is a pretty steady leak.any ideas what would be causing this.Has a new oil pump and about 50 pounds of pressure.
Thanks Randy

 

I did that to a 454. To much oil...............

 

isn't there a gasket or seal (rubber?) that is supposed to be there??

 

I wonder if the oil pressure relief valve at the forward end of the valve/lifter galley (under the intake manifold) could be passing too much oil into the front of the engine. The tapered end of the valve has a flat on it to meter a little oil past it to the timing gears but if the spring in the valve is being overpowered by the new oil pump it may be allowing too much oil past it.

 

Check if the screw is still in the back of the dist. shaft by the drive slot . How did it run? If it was the bushing leaking that bad it wouldent be running worth a damn. Also check for a crack.

 

Bill ,
I think it might be the relief valve is being overpowered by the new oil pump,considering that the new oil pump has a releif valve in it also I was thinking of disabling it but someone had said i would starve oil to the timing gears?I really do not want to take the intake back off.Could i just block the 2 holes in the dist.or block 1 and make the second one smaller to restrict the oil.Probably should not totaly block off or the dist bushing would not get any lube.What do you think?
Thanks Randy

 

Probably a sloppy bushing in distributor...there is no seal as such, and I've never seen a distributor fill up with oil on these! There is no direct feed, but of course back of distrib is exposed to the general oil storm and the occasional extra squirt from the forward pressure valve. Oil from main body bottom vent has to come through bushing. Main shaft is hollow (except for wad of felt) and has an oil hole up forward to feed front distributor bearing...any trouble there would fill cap with oil, leak would not be at body vent. The screw referred to is other end of this setup but would not cause a leak there. By the way, the only FORWARD bearing leak trouble I have ever seen was caused not by the normal oil but by dirty solvent!
That oil passage fills with solvent when you clean innards, and only way to get rid of it for sure is to put main shaft in a hot place, like atop your water heater, for a day or two.
Look to your bushing.
By the way, patent shows that vent's main purpose to be entirely unexpected...
it is a powered air ventilator! It is beneath the advance deliberately to provide a constant stream of air from the spinning weights so that exiting air pulls out the ozone-rich air (ozone formed by the high voltage) within the distributor, keeping the ozone from increasing conductivity and allowing misfire...
oil coming out there shows a mechanical problem.

 

Bruce,
So are you thinking the bushing is loose and allowing oil to pass by,but if i am getting a lot of bypass from the foward pressure valve would it not flood the area and promote this also? I did the 90% oil thing were you drill out the rear of the block and use a remote filter.I have had this engine running for approx 30 minutes at 1500 rpm or more to break in the cam with no leak.It seemed to happen when i had drove it up and down the driveway at higher engine speeds.I did check the dist for play before i installed a new set of contacts it seemed to be ok?
Thanks Randy

 

I guess you are referring to plugging the two holes in the hub shown in my picture. The holes connect to a groove in the housing that supplies oil to the OD of the bushing. There wouldn't be any excess oil traveling through the wall of the bushing so it is not going to help by plugging those holes. As Bruce has noted its probably more an issue of a loose bushing allowing oil to leak into the distributor. As I mentioned the original bypass valve has a flat on the tapered nose that supplies metered oil to the timing gears; my advice is to increase the spring pressure on the valve by replacing the original spring or shimming it so that it will not open before the valve in the pump. The flat on the original valve will supply oil to the timing gears even though the valve remains closed.

 

Thanks Bill,
I did not know how the oil got to the vent hole but now i see what Bruce was saying about it coming from the bushing.I guess i will have to pull the intake and fix the bypass valve,it has to be flooding the area and pushing it out the bushing.Thanks for helping me with this.
Randy