okay, so I have posted many times, many questions regarding linkage, brakes, etc. Finally everything is ready to go on the 66 dart with 225 and single weber progressive carb. We changed the old bad gas out for new good gas with some octane booster to make sure she will fire up. so I turn her over this morning and she is running real rough and I have to keep my foot on the pedal somewhat to keep her running. I let her die and i go to the engine to adjust carb for high idle and what not, and maybe adjust timing just a tad. ALso give everything an eye to make sure nothing happened. THat is when I see it. a fluid literally pouring down onto the floor. At first I think i blew a fuel line, but it is worse, it is oil just spewing. I get under the car and put my catch can under it, and it is coming from the the engine where it meets with the bellhousing on the transmission. It is not stopping and it just keeps pouring out.

What did I do wrong in the rebuild? I checked and triple checked everything on the internals, even the direction of the main oil gasket on the crankcase. What happened. I am back at square one now I know and I am so freaking pissed off. With two jobs and school full time I am about ready to do one of two things:
set the car on fire.
call a tow and take it to a mechanic and go into debt having them fix it.

what should I do for real?

Caesar

Pull the rear inspection cover and take a close look for where the oil is coming from.
There is a pipe plug in the rear of the main oil gallery, did that get re-installed? I have also seen (had) the rear cam bearing "cup-plug" pop-out.

Don't work on the car when angry... cool-down and go after the problem(s) systematly.
FYI, most new engines I start for the frist time have some issues right at start-up. A few adjustments later, they are purring like a kitten.
DD

but not until tomorrow. I cant think about the car right now. to sum up:
1) inspection cover off and look for plug in main oil galley or piping.
2) is there a way to check the cam "cup-plug"?

My comp cams, didnt appear to have a cam plug with it, it just had a large end that fit in the last hole on the engine, and the timing gear was supposed to take the thrust of the cam.

I will check the net and the manual, but i dont recall the manual saying anything about that

Caesar

Had a guy rebuild a 440 for a 69 Charger I had. No oil pressure at start-up. Did a lot of checking and finally determined it was a pipe plug that was missing on the front of the engine (no, he wouldn't take care of it). Once I finally got it installed (without pulling the engine), great oil pressure.

how far did you get into this block, did you just clean it up yourself or did a shop do some machine work on it? for oil to be pouring down the back of the engine it can only be main oil seal/cam rear plug or oil gallery screwplug, if you just cleaned the block you should know if the oil gallery plug or cam plug were removed, is the car seeing oil pressure while this is happening?if it is then the screwplug is in place and the oil is coming from main oil seal or cam plug, if there is no oil pressure the scewplug is missing,good luck and don`t worry about pulling the engine to fix it the second time out is easier.

I'm ashamed to admit that I did this very thing building a slant for a friend. I obviously had the focus of lining up the timing set and left out the front gallery plug that's hidden behind the cam gear once installed. Unfortunately he had no oil gage so it ran for a few days before it nuked the rod bearings and the cam. The good news is that I fixed it and we're still friends.

_________________

Hey, if you haven't done something like that then you're not really an engine builder. Stuff like that is how we learn. Unfortunately, some lessons must be repeated.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

The stock motor I had in the '66 had an oil leak out of the bellhousing area. When I pulled the motor the other day I found the welch plug behind the camshaft leaking. Factory plug, never replaced.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Here is a reference photo.
As already noted, there are only 3 places oil can get out back there.
DD

machine shop did the work. I had NO cap plug (looks like a freeze plug) on the back of the engine, and I didnt catch it in any referrence in the manuals. I must not have been looking for it. I made DAMN sure the main oil seal was PERFECT!!! I dont know about the screw plug on the back side of the engine though, didnt even see it in the referrence photo you showed. I think it is either screw plug or cam plug (i know there is no cap plug there). Well looks like I will be pulling the engine out one more time. like you said, at least this time it will be easier, dont have to pull the transmission out at all.

thanks for the photo, gonna print that one. I will let you guys know and take pictures and post as I have done before. Thanks again.

Caesar

Caesar,I really feel for you.
but there wouldnot be anyone on this board that has not made a mistake somewhere,sometime when working on their vehicles.
furtunately,most mistakes are minor,and easily rectified. some are big and are a pain in the butt to fix.
I guarantee you will look back on this in a year or two, and have a wry smile about this incident - thats all it is -an incident.
you will learn from it and I bet you will be on this and other boards advising on engine building in the future.
reminding them to "not forget the camshaft cup seal"and oil gallery plug.


regards,Rod

I added a small arrow to the photo to point out the end of the main oil gallery. This is a tapped hole and the plug is on the end of the alan wrench laying next to it.
The plug is a low profile "socket head" pipe plug, tall pipe plugs, with a raised hex head will hit the flex plate.
DD

yes thats a good idea for a few photos and remenber everytime you work on you car you have another interesting storey to tell your buddies when your cruising down the road with everything running smooth

The cup plug is 2 9/64", the gallery plug is 3/8 NPT (pipe thread)
DD