Bunghole

That's what I inititally thought, but now I'm worried that a piece of the cork from the gasket made it's way into the works and plugged something up temporarily. Oh well, cork isn't abrasive...I'll just keep an eye on it. I've ordered a couple of VC gaskets from Motorsports, so hopefully that will do it. Thanks.

Anybody have any ideas on why the oil pressure would shoot up until I stopped and restarted the engine 3 or 4 times? Thanks.

Car shows 60k on the odo, but I just bought it in February, so who knows. Doesn't burn oil, but was running really rich when I got it. I rebuilt the carbs, dropped the smog stuff, installed a pertronix ignitor, did a full tune up and advanced the timing for non-smog, and it was running better than ever with lots of low end power and all that good stuff. Also, a compression test showed 150-153 across all cylinders. My understanding is that that's a bit on the low side, so that's why I was considering a rebuild. I will take your advice on the new cover gasket after I try to track down the leak. Could that much oil make its way out of that gasket? I guess with how hard I was driving it, the answer is probably yes. I find myself working on it for weeks at a time, and when I start to lose motivation, I just need to get it driving again and the motivation returns :classic:

Panchovisa, Thanks for the tips. What is the torque spec for the cover bolts? Any benefit to running some sort of detergent through oil system and then draining and replacing? If the leak isn't coming from the valve cover gasket, it must be a head gasket or something which means I'll have to pull the engine apart I suppose. Just thinking I might want to clean the oil system out before doing it. I don't know...just thoughts. Also, the engine could probably use a rebuild. What does a pro job cost? Maybe with getting it bored? Any advice or thoughts? Thanks again.

Hi folks, This might be a simple one for some of you, but for me....no. Took the '72 L24 for a drive yesterday after it had been sitting for about two weeks in the garage. Oil was leaking at a good clip (about a drop every 2 or 3 seconds. Also, the oil pressure gauge was pinned on the high side. I stopped and restarted the engine a few times and the pressure went back to normal (about 45 psi). I took it home and parked it in the garage and there was about a 6 inch puddle of oil under the car this morning and the intake side of the engine was covered with oil. At first, I thought it might have been the valve cover gasket, but that seems like a lot of oil to be that. By the way, I had the valve cover off during the 2 weeks idle period while I polished it. Lots of fun. I did not replace the valve cover gasket as it is fairly new. I also replaced the plug wires and initially swapped the 5 and 3 wires by accident. I quickly fixed it and it ran great aside from the oil. Anything obvious to anyone. I'm no mechanic, so I appreciate any help anyone can give. Thanks.

Anyone looking for a Pertronix ignitor should check out www.carshopinc.com. $63.95 for the single point "Ignitor" Victoria British charges $99 and change. It was so cheap, I ordered it for Saturday delivery (tomorrow). I don't have much patience.