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it's always something...........

Joined
Apr 2, 2004
Messages
4,611
Location
Newark, Delaware
Corvette
1965 Coupe L76 / 1978 L82
well, last week I got the motor back into the '78 project car and got her fired up on Mon. After working on her all week I figured on Fri she was ready to take to the DMV and get her registered and tagged.
Well, that was a no-go. I'm HOPING by this Fri maybe she will be ready.
I've been fighting all weekend and all this week so far on two persistent leaks that have had me pulling my hair out.

first one was one of the tranny fluid cooler lines that run up to the radiator. I thought it was the rubber hose that connects the hardline to the radiator fitting and it's is NOT an easy line to get access to where it goes into the radiator fitting. It sits above and directly in line with the lower radiator coolant hose so each time I had to fool with it I'd have to drain the radiator, undo the lower hose, than it still was very limited space to work in.
Thought it was the clamp not tinght enough so I tightened it and let it sit for a while. the leak seemed to have stopped so I rehooked the lower rad hose up and refilled the system and took the car for a test drive.
Leak was back! *#$^%@
drained the coolant and removed the lower rad hose AGAIN. There was more room to move the hose further up the fitting so I did that and let it sit overnight. No leak so I rehooked up the lower hose and refillied the coolant and went for a test drive.
Leak was back! ^&*@#$%*@$^%!!!!!! :mad
Drained coolant and removed lower rad hose a 3rd time!
replaced the hose and DOUBLE clamped both ends. I figured "HA! got you now sucker! Just you try to leak on me."
Reconnected lower rad hose and refilled coolant again....... (spending a fortune on coolant! )
After test drive............... Leak was back. :mad :hb :hb :mad

Now, I HAD looked at the fitting best I could but I honest didn't think it was from that but rather the hose but after all this I KNOW it couldn't be the hose anymore so with no other option it had to be the fitting so today I got the fun job of removing the radiator out of the car yet again and took it to radiator repair shop and they are pressure testing it to check the fitting where it goes into the radiator and will make any needed repairs on it.
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The second persistent leak was from the passenger side valve cover. At first it was just a very small occaisional single drip of oil. After a couple of drips I figured I'd check the tightness of the bolts on that cover. found they were pretty loose - much more than they should have been so I tightened them down to spec torque.
After that it was a very bad, pretty constant drip of oil. after each night there would be a big puddle of oil under the car. WTF??!!
Had no choice but had to pull the valve cover off today - not the simplest thing to do on that side of the motor on a late model C3 with all the emission crap, fuel line, AC support bracket, EGR valve, etc all in the way....
Well, got the cover off and find that in that corner where I knew the leak was the gasket was completely split! :mad
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I've never used the FelPro rubber gaskets before and after this i'll never use them again. They cosy almost 3 times as much as the basic cork ones and they aren't worth sh*t. The other side cover already gave me problems because of these gaskets and already had replaced that one so this is the clincher and both sides now have regular cork gaskets.

Oh yeah........... it's been a real fun week :eyerole
 
Wow

Gee, Barry, your planets aren't lining up this week! Hang in there...:)

That radiator trans. oil leak is a bear, for sure. :ugh

The valve cover gaskets-I use cork, too, but I use the thicker (7mm) Fel-Pro ones. I also use the "valve cover spreader bars" if running the stamped tin covers, I believe you have aluminum covers so no worries there. The spreader bars help evenly spread out the torque over a larger area of the cover and gasket. They first appeared on the '66 Corvair Corsa turbo car, if I am not mistaken. Also, with the thicker gasket, you may need a longer screw to get a good grip into the head.

My engine will get paint and detail this week and go into the car next weekend, I hope. Since I am now running a NOM 383, I am going to change up the color scheme a little. It's a secret until Cruisefest...hee hee hee...;)

Rick
:w
 
Rod
yep, I've had better weeks while working on the car.........
oh well, I guess things like this happen although it's a bit frustrating to have to start taking things apart again just when I thought she was ready for the road and to go into the paint shop.


you know we require pictures of your car right? :)
 
D'oh!

Yes, I know pictures are a part of the membership here. Funny you should mention that. As I was staring at the engine bay last night, I realized I needed to start "documenting the process". Problem is, I have the camera set on hi-resolution photos (1 MB) and I lost the owners manual, so, er, well...:W

Hang in there, I will post some pics, the next 5 weeks are gonna be fun...! Barry, I know you told me earlier Cruisefest was not on your radar this year, sorry to hear that, but thanks for your great posts and photos-it's always a pleasure.

Rick

:w
 
Rod
on your camera you probably just need to go into the menu and find something that says picture size or something sililar and thats where you can change the resolution.
Personally, I prefer to shoot at full resolution all the time than if I need to resize them smaller such as to post on here, email to somebody, etc than I resize them down on the computer thru Photoshop (or any other Photo editing program).
That way I always have hi-rez eimages incase I need to work with them, crop them, or whatever.


yep, no Cruisefest for me this year but i'm hoping to make it one of these coming years.........

Oh well, my posts are handy....... I should write a book of a collection of my posts and it can be called "How NOT to do things to your Corvette". ;LOL
 
LOL

;LOL Too funny, Barry. Thanks for the tip-I will play around with the camera and "menu". I also know of some host sites (Village photos, etc.) that I may experiment with as well. So many projects, so little time..(sigh)...just planted an engine in a '70 El Camino on Sunday, I would like to finish and sell for Cruisefest cash, couple guys interested in my '71 Nova...wife wants to go camping, her GTO needs finishing, only had the Road King out once this year, blah, blah, blah. Work sure gets in the way of things!

I love your posts, whether they are how things went well-or not-they are still a great read. Have a great day...:)

Rick

:w
 

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