[Pepi]

Wow, lucky (and unlucky) you. Glad you were able to fish it out!!

[Formulabruce]

I believe I have one from my '73 L75 I will look on Monday .

[The Boss]

Unless those are two different dip sticks Steve, I'd say you still have a piece in there. Those don't match up to a single break - you're missing the other side of the hole.

[charles bledsoe]

I believe Steve stated he had filed/smoothed out one end of his dip stick hoping it would aid in getting the broken piece out. In the pic, the rounded out dip stick and broken piece are the one from the 73. The dip stick shown below it is from his Grandmothers 75.

[njsteve]

It is the matching part. I filed the end of the dipstick smooth to use it as a probe. That's why they don't match now. It was too sharp to use initially and was just jamming in the tube when I first tried to use it to see where the missing piece was.

[The Boss]

Ok, missed that part.

Just wanted to be sure you're not missing that part!

[njsteve]

I always laugh when people use that old saying: "Why is someting always in the last place you look?" Well, that's because you stop looking after you find it. I am a firm believer in continuing the search even after you found it.

...just in case there was another broken dipstick end down there somewhere.


You'll be happy know there was nothing. An as an added bonus the magnet was completely clean - no metallic residue of any sort was on the magnet when I wiped it off.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

I believe I have one from my '73 L75 I will look on Monday .

That would be great!

[cdoggy81]

What about welding it back & re drilling the hole?

[cal30_sniper]

Here's a couple of pictures of the original dipstick out of my '73 L30 engine. Looks like exactly the same dipstick. I think I'm going to learn from your troubles and install the spare '74 400 dipstick along with the new short block.

[njsteve]

Yup, that's the same dipstick. Why didn't they just stamp on it: "Break here and insert into oil pan"

Ugh!

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by cdoggy81

What about welding it back & re drilling the hole?

I wouldn't trust it since the weld would be harder than the surrounding metal, causing the dipstick to break at a new point above or below the weld.

[Formulabruce]

Its 31.25 overall total length.( A/C dipstick) . I have one from the L75 right here, handle needs some evporust.
price is right, but I need to find a long enough tube..

[Mezzo]

So apparently the 1973 L75 took 5 quarts of oil versus the 1972 455 HO took 6 quarts of oil.

[Formulabruce]

I think they both take 6 , but yes this stick is from a '73 L75

[njsteve]

Thanks Bruce! A couple of foot section of PVC plumbing pipe works great for shipping. I can PayPal you some cash for materials and shipping, etc. PM me your PayPal info. Thanks again for the help.

[4birds]

I've been down this road a few times. All have been A/C dipsticks. Welding them doesn't work either. Fortunately, I have never broke a non A/C dipstick....yet!

[frank.g]

Hey Steve, if I were you, I would keep the replacement 73 dip stick as a prop, and use the non-73 dip stick for day to day duty. I do that with the fuzzy air inlet hose and the radiator cap (I run the car with a 7 lb cap to maintain lower pressures on 43 year old radiator and heater core). Standard show-prep duty has me swap out the operating parts for the original "props".

Another solution is to keep your original dip stick in the engine, and keep a non 73 with you. When you want to check the oil, remove 73 and use the other.

[njsteve]

I'll use the new one as a show piece and the broken one as the "driver" dipstick. The one I used for comparison in the photos was from Gramma's car so I can't steal that one without facing the Wrath Of Gramma.

[blue71ta]

Originally Posted by Mezzo

So apparently the 1973 L75 took 5 quarts of oil versus the 1972 455 HO took 6 quarts of oil.

5 quarts in the pan + 1 in the filter = 6 total