[gtorich]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I went thru struggling with RMS leaks, and in 3 cases, it turned out to be the pan leaking at the main cap gasket.

During a few of those instances, I went back to a rope seal, the 'grey' ones, maybe those are the 'Best' seals? Anyway, had the rope seal install down to an art, and never had a leak after. From the RMS anyway. And it takes a few times with the crank test fitting and checking, making sure there isn't too much drag.

The pan leaks were frustrating, and found the cork seal was the best to use on the cap area. In some cases it depends on the pan, but in general, I found even on some of the pans that had the grooves/holes for the rubber seals, the cork still worked the best.

The rubber ones squirm, shrink/balloon, and never worked right for me.

You do have to work the cork ones tho, test fit, trim, test fit, etc. Also would glue it to the cap with RTV, and just set the pan on it to hold it in place as it setup/dried.

Pan rail gaskets you have to be selective of too, but think I used to use the Fel-Pro fiber ones which were kind of thick. They were black as I remember. Think I have the part number somewhere.

I use studs on the pan rails now exclusively. Gluing the gasket down with them is cake, and they won't walk when putting the pan on. And yes, after a few heat cycles you should retighten.


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Hey thanks for that info, i used the one piece oil pan gasket from bop, should have cut the rubber ends off and used a cork piece over the main cap which i had but didnt use..........i guess really dumb question when taking the motor apart can they tell what was leaking, oil pan or rms, right now i have the flywheel off, cant see anything that might be leaking, im in the process of picking up a smoke machine . All good points from you guys, i just dont feel confident with this motor anymore, not sure what to do there.............also on using studs, how do you retighten after a couple heat cycles, hard to even see some of the bolts to tighten them down.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by gtorich

Hey thanks for that info, i used the one piece oil pan gasket from bop, should have cut the rubber ends off and used a cork piece over the main cap which i had but didnt use..........i guess really dumb question when taking the motor apart can they tell what was leaking, oil pan or rms, right now i have the flywheel off, cant see anything that might be leaking, im in the process of picking up a smoke machine . All good points from you guys, i just dont feel confident with this motor anymore, not sure what to do there.............also on using studs, how do you retighten after a couple heat cycles, hard to even see some of the bolts to tighten them down.

So you're not seeing anything in the back of the engine that's leaking after removing the flywheel?

Is it possible the leak has been coming from the back of the valve covers? I can't recall, but believe you run an aftermarket head correct? Some of these don't return oil as quickly as the factory heads and in periods of high, or sustained rpm use, you may find that you've got a puddle of oil in the back corner of the head that is above the gasket line.

In that case, you can get drips down the back of the head that will pool around the bell housing area. You'll likely also notice it on the starters.

Is the back of the heads wet? What about the starter?

[gtorich]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

So you're not seeing anything in the back of the engine that's leaking after removing the flywheel?

Is it possible the leak has been coming from the back of the valve covers? I can't recall, but believe you run an aftermarket head correct? Some of these don't return oil as quickly as the factory heads and in periods of high, or sustained rpm use, you may find that you've got a puddle of oil in the back corner of the head that is above the gasket line.

In that case, you can get drips down the back of the head that will pool around the bell housing area. You'll likely also notice it on the starters.

Is the back of the heads wet? What about the starter?

Jason, how are you doing........nothing on back of the valve covers, i do have the kre heads, nothing looks wet there, most of the oil pooling in inside the bell housing , once the inspection cover get full of oil its leaking on the starter not to mention all the way to the rear of the car, weird part doesnt look like anything oil wise is on the flywheel, but that is probably flying off, motor is out now, hopefully someone can figure this out. I will see if i can post a pic for you later of the back of the block, i have it on a engine cart now.

Rich