[north]

I bought a 69 Firebird earlier this year (convertible with 1bbl engine and 2 speed auto on the tree-the opposite of a muscle car!).

Runs well but was leaking some oil from the headgasket above the accessory block. I had a few questions about what we found and would appreciate any insight from the OHC braintrust here...

First is the engine was rebuilt not long ago (in terms of miles anyhow). Very clean inside, followers look really nice and very clean in the head, however...

1... the oil leak is probably indicative of a slight warp to the head, it was leaking right where the main oil passage to the head is, headgasket looked good there and no obvious signs of scratches or damage to the head or block that could cause the leak. plan is to send head out and have it checked and cut if necessary. No indication of any leakage internally between coolant, lubrication and combustion chamber, compression was perfect all around.

2... a bit of wear pattern on two valve stems, the rest look perfect. Problem is probably related to the fact that two of the "lifters" (forget the name of the OHC hydraulic follower type device) (not the same positions as the worn stems) are missing what looks like an oil flow restrictor at the top opening of the "lifter". Logically those two missing restrictors are resulting in some degree of oil starvation to the other ten rockers. Got to love the attention to detain of the engine builder! Anyone have some spare restrictors or lifter assemblies for sale?

3... I noticed that four of the fourteen bolts that secure the cam housing-cover to the head are actually studs, every OHC I look at has these in different locations. Scouring the internet for factory pics is inconclusive as to which positions those four studs should go. Second esthetic issue is the oil fill tube, everyone says they should be engine blue but this one and the one on my Sprint look so much like they are factory black. I know earlier years were painted for sure, is it possible that in 69 they were black, as part of other money saving paint changes that year?