47-55.1 What's going wrong inside my 350?

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by dsraven

when doing the timing cover gasket/seal you will likely have some problems getting the cover back on unless you pull the pan. this is because the rubber end seal on the cover sorta slips into a groove and usually the cover is on the front of the engine before the pan goes on so the oil pan rail gaskets slip under the ends of the front and rear rubber ends. it can be done but takes a bit of time and patience. use permatex "the right stuff" gasket goop, liker silicone only dries faster, so you don't get any leaks. slip the cover down onto the front of the pan and use some small tapered punches, that fit the hole size of the timing cover alignment dowel holes drilled in the block, through the timing cover holes as alignment tools. install a couple of bolts in the cover and then check to see if the rubber end seal is in place correctly before proceding to finish the job.
easiest and less likely to leak if the pan is off or at least let down a bit (then you will run the chance of a leak at the rear because the sealer has let go from the new angle).
a small bit of sealer at each corner where the rubber meets the rail gasket is preferable to a large bead that goops up the whole area.
do it right the first time and just pull the pan. you could then check the bearing clearances, material in the bottom of the pan, oil pump pick up tube placement etc if you want to.

X2 on removing the pan. It's the right way to do this, and the only way to get the front corners clean so the gasket sealer will have a fighting chance. I'd be checking torque on all rod & crank bolts, and the oil pump bolt while in there, just to judge the skill of the assembler. Then I'd take a look at every half bearing in every cap (rod and crank), then re-torque. It's an extra hour, but that's an insurance policy I'd be buying.

[dsraven]

use some plstigage to check the bearing clearance, its easy to do and cheap insurance for peace of mind. napa sells it, you would likely want the green stuff. take a bearing cap off, lay a bead of the string in there just off the centerline if the crank and full width, then install the cap and torque it, then remove the cap and check how much the string flattened by comparing against the graduations on the wrapper. just don't turn the crank with the string in there or you will skew the results. when done remove the flattened string with a fingernail or whatever and lube the brg, install the cap and torque it for final time. use blue loctite on the rod bolts. thats assuming the clearances are good.

https://www.plastigaugeusa.com/

https://www.napacanada.com/en/p/SEPSPR1

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&key...sl_94dkrsml2_b

oil pan install sbc, use "the right stuff" instead of the stuff he uses. also not a real proponent of the complete bead from end to end. just the front and rear. if you use the felpro permadry gaskets they are rubber instead of cork so they seal better/longer and don't split if overtorqued and don't rely on the cork absorbing some oil and expanding in order to seal well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdUo-Ts4Acw


valve adjustment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_IOYwwKjTE

[NeoJuice]

Originally Posted by DransportGarage

X2 on removing the pan. It's the right way to do this, and the only way to get the front corners clean so the gasket sealer will have a fighting chance. I'd be checking torque on all rod & crank bolts, and the oil pump bolt while in there, just to judge the skill of the assembler. Then I'd take a look at every half bearing in every cap (rod and crank), then re-torque. It's an extra hour, but that's an insurance policy I'd be buying.

Once I drop the pan I will be taking a full inspection of everything and re-checking torque specs.