With so much off, it is now easy to get a really good luck at all the the case, potential oil leaks, etc.
I was shocked how difficult was to get the valve covers off. I didn’t have an issue with it spring 2019 when I did an oil change and adjusted the valves. But damn, those covers were not budging from the cork gaskets.
I need to use a mallet to get them off.
Now the rear of the engine has always been so oily. I really assumed that the main seal was leaking, and in fact the shop that did the initial inspection after I bought her indicated that her main seal was leaking.
But the seal is clean.
Now the camshaft plug is dirty, but that really dark stuff is the sealant used around the groove and along the rear case mating surface. But look at the base, there’s oily filth there and some of it looks somewhat fresh.
Maybe there is a leak at the mating surfaces there at the bottom. I won’t really know until I crack the case. I hope there’s not a case problem and perhaps it is just a part that whoever opened it last did not seal properly.
I was totally shocked when I finally got that plenum off.
I have never seen an oil deflector plate look like this.
I mean, that looks like dirt got into the oil and then solidified onto it. I don’t know if this is a common thing with the plenum/case connection or not.
However, you may recall I kept thinking oil was spilled up top multiple times causing such oil on the case, cylinders, ets.
I actually think that the this engine was indeed opened, or at least the top part was broken down
While the plate is here, the 2 paper gaskets are completely missing. It is is anything like a typical alternator stand, there should be paper gasket, deflector plate, and then another gasket under the plate. I’m not seeing the top one and I suspect there may not be one below.
Without the plenum fully and completely sealed against the case, I suspect oil slowly penetrated the seam. Now of course, there’s no oil always up here. However, if I understand correctly, there’s enough oil particles that can come up even with the deflector and perhaps that contributed some small amount.
I don’t really know otherwise why this is so bad.
The oil mess continues down the front and side here.
The connection between Cylinder 2 and the case is bad. I am assuming oil came from up top and the case/cylinder seam is not leaking. I would expect that to result in oil below the cylinder.
The 3/4 side isn’t anything really like the 1/2 front side.
Cylinder 4 is pretty dirty, but I am not seeing the same drip down pattern necessarily here from up top.
The pushrod tubes are a mess, with the tubes for cylinder 2 valves being the worst. However, the intake valve pushrod on 1 is also bad.
I mean, these look fresh and the engine has not run since late last summer.
And look at the oil above the pushrod tubes at the center. Are the cylinder mating surfaces leaking? Is this run down from the top form an old oil spill?
Now I figured the pushrod tube gaskets at the case are all old and are leaking. But I don’t think they would make the tubes look this bad.
I don’t think the pump gaskets are leaking. Pretty sure this is all from the same problem uptop.
The worst oily grime that still looks fresh is at the rear as seen with the pic way above for the camshaft plug. It is really noticeable on the 3/4 side rear near this area.
I noticed the thermostat bracket stud mount remains so that’s good. Just clean it up and reuse it if the threads are good.
There’s some case degradation at the bottom tin mounting plates.
I’ve seen this on every original old engine I’ve disassembled.
Honestly, I don’t recall the rocker arms looking so dirty when I adjusted them last year.
I’ll have to see if I took any photos last year or during previous adjustments to compare.
All of the rocker arms will be disassembled and cleaned. The valves will be broken down and disassembled to have the heads hot dipped and cleaned.
Tomorrow I will take the heads off to see their condition, as well as the pistons and the pushrod tube gaskets.