Basic Tech Information

* AN Fittings, Threads
* Dry, Wet Sump Oil Pan
* Liquid Weight
* Hydralic Pressure and Force
* Short, Long Block
* Engine Displacement

* Dwell vs. Timing
* Setting Points
* Timing Advance and Temperature
* Unleaded Fuel Use and Valve Seats

* Cylinder Leak Down Test
* Engine Noises
* Oil Smoke
* Open Differential Tire Speed
* Pinging

* Oil Change
* Master Cylinder Bleeding
* Brake Bleeding
* Distributor Install
* Setting Idle


* Installing a Heli Coil
* Spark Plug Indexing

* Siezed Soft Metal
* Siezed Spark Plug Shell
* RTV, Silicone Use
* Grease
* Assembly Tips
* Soldering/Brazing/Welding




A-N Fittings, Threads

A-N Fittings vs. Pipe Threads
A-N is a term that stands for (Army/Navy). These fittings were first used in the military, designed by our Aerospace program.

The most common braided fuel line is -6, which is equivalent to 3/8" hose. - -8 would be 1/2" hose. Note that the dash number is the hose size in 16ths of an inch (-6 = 6/16 = 3/8; -8 = 8/16 = 1/2). Most of the adapter AN fittings you'll need to mate to your stock fuel pump and carb will be -6 size.

So here are some reference numbers to help, comparing pipe sizes to A-N sizes. Remember, pipe thread is measured by inside diameter (ID).

NPT pipe thread Threads Closest
size (ID) per inch A-N fitting
1/16" 27 -2
1/8" 27 -4
1/4" 18 -6
3/8" 18 -8
1/2" 14 -10
3/4" 14 -12

There is a great write up on the A-N fittings in the August 1997 issue of "Drag Racing Monthly".

Threads
Straight threads do not make a seal - you'd need to have some sort of flare fitting or sealing flange with an o-ring or gasket. All of the fittings in the oil system (well, ok, the one at the sender) and the cooling system (sender, thermo switches, and the fitting at the back of the intake manifold) are pipe thread, as are all the vacuum fittings on the intake.


Dry, Wet Sump Oil Pan

Wet Sump Oil Pan -- What nearly every stock engine from the factory has. The oil is kept in the bottom of the pan, thus it is "wet". The pump is also in the pan, and pumps the oil out to the filter and in turn, through the engine.

Dry Sump Oil Pan -- Each and every Drag Racing Pro Stock and each and every Winston Cup car have these. The oil is held in an external tank, roughly 3 to 4 times the capacity of the stock oil pan. The oil pump is now outside the engine, and belt-driven. This oil pump has several inlet sections, each connected to different places in the oil pan and the rest of the engine. It keeps pulling oil out of the engine as quickly as it drops out of it's intended area, be that the rods, mains, cam bearings, etc. and sends it to the external holding tank, where it's de-aerated (to a degree). Then the pump pulls it out of the bottom of this tank, filters the oil and sends it back in to the engine. The oil pan on these is relatively flat, since it now doesn't have to be the container of the oil, just the lower cover and pump inlet(s) receptacle(s). I say those with the conditional "s's" because different applications of this design can use several pick ups or a single one. So, since the pan has no dropped "container" in it to keep the oil in, it is considered "dry" versus the containered "wet" stock style pan.

Simply put, it all has to do with where the oil is kept for the pump to lubricate the engine. "Wet", it's in the pan, "dry", it's kept elsewhere.


Liquid Weight


Hydralic Pressure and Force

Be careful not to confuse volume with pressure. Assume that the brake pedal is pressed on with a constant force, resulting in a force F exerted on the pushrod into the M/C. Pressure in the line coming out of the M/C is simply: P = F/A where A = the area of the M/C piston.

Smaller piston diameter = smaller area = higher pressure for a given force on the pedal. Conversely, for a constant pressure in the line (assuming constant pressure results in constant braking force at the wheels), a smaller area results in a lower required force. The concept here is not about moving fluid, it is about (hydraulic) pressure when you are dealing with brakes! Pressure is measured in force per surface size, pounds per square inch. When you brake you want to get the highest pressure in the system with the lowest force applied to you pedal.

Let me give you an example:

You want to put 2 p/si in the brake system.
  1. You have a 1 square inch brake piston. You must apply 2 pounds force to the piston to get to 2 pounds/1 square inch = 2p/si.
  2. You have a 2 square inch brake piston. You must apply 4 pounds force to get 4 pounds/2 square inch = 2p/si!

However, the smaller piston will result in less fluid flow for a given linear travel. Since we are keeping the wheel cylinders a constant size in this example, and thus require a constant volume of brake fluid for the same braking action, the smaller M/C piston must obviously travel farther than the larger one, albeit at a lower applied force, to move this constant volume of fluid. In other words, like any other lever system, you're trading a longer travel for lower force. (Gee, Mister Peabody, simple machines in automobiles _again_...)

The only thing that limits one to go all the way to very small bore sizes is of course that you have to have a certain volume decrease to build up the pressure. With a small piston you would have to press that thing in a looong way to achieve that and that kind of stroke would be not practicable to put in your car. ]


Short, Long Block

Actually, a short block consists of the block, with all internal parts, less the sheetmetal (i.e. oil pan, etc), heads, intake, exhaust, and accessories.

A long block is one where you can bolt on your induction system, (intake, carb, FI) and electrical items, exhaust manifolds and such and go.


Engine Displacement

Imagine that you took the heads off an engine, pulled all the pistons to the bottom of their stroke, and filled all the cylinders with water. What we call the CID of an engine is the volume of water that would spill out if you now push all the pistons to the top of their stroke.

As you can see, the volume of the intake manifold, head combustion chamber, etc., has nothing to do with displacement. It is all in the bore, stroke, and number of cylinders in the engine.

If you didn't sleep through your high-school geometry classes, you may remember that the volume of a cylinder is equal to the area of the base multiplied by the height of the cylinder. For a circle of radius "r", the area is 3.1415926 x r x r. Since we usually measure cylinder bore, which is twice the radius, we can express this same area in terms of the bore diameter, "d", as 0.7854 x bore x bore. So the volume of one cylinder of the engine is 0.7854 x bore x bore x stroke. If there are 8 cylinders, the volume displaced by all 8 of them is 8 times this, or 8 x 0.7854 x bore x bore x stroke.


Dwell vs. Timing

Each degree of dwell incurs a change of *2* degrees of timing... since dwell comes in dist'r degrees, whereas timing comes in crank degrees, and the two are coupled 2:1 by the timing set.


Setting Points

Dwell is the duration in degrees that the points remain closed, if memory serves. You need the engine analyzer to give you the reading so you know which way to adjust the setting screw on the points. You'll also want a timing light to get your base timing set up on the distributor.

Some of us are old enough to remember when cars didn't have operating systems. You also didn't need a dwell/tach to set the dwell (though it certainly helps). It only requires an 0.030" feeler gauge. Lacking that, a matchbook cover will work in a pinch (been there, done that).

Remove the distributor cap and rotor. Bump the stater until the moveable arm of the points is resting on the peak of one lobe of the distributor cam. Note that this will be the most difficult part of the operation, as it must be right on the apex. Turn the adjusting screw on the points in or out until the feeler gauge/matchbook cover just passes through the points with a very slight drag. Reassemble the distributor. Recheck with a dwell/tach as soon as possible.

You will need a timing light to set the timing, but in a pinch, loosen the distributor and move it a small amount (like 5 degrees) back and forth while cranking until the motor catches. Note that on an Olds clockwise is advance, CCW is retard.


Timing Advance and Temperature

I'm not claiming to be an expert, but you're close. Every increase in timing advance results in an increase in spark plug temperature. One chart I've seen put out by Champion Spark Plugs indicates plug temperature increases in percentage about one number higher than the advance figure. For instance, if your timing is 2 deg BTDC, plug temp will be roughly 3 per cent higher than at TDC; at 4 deg BTDC ,plug temp will be roughly 5 percent higher than at TDC and so on. This increased spark plug temperature is one cause of preignition. The spark plug itself becomes the hot spot that contributes to the problem. Other contributing factors to preignition are excessive carbon deposits, poor or low octane fuel (at least lower octane that the compression ratio requires), some fuel additives, excessively lean air/fuel ratios, etc.


Unleaded Fuel Use and Valve Seats

Starting for the 1971 model year, the EPA got their wish and GM started building the engines for use with low-lead or no-lead fuel. Oldsmobile used this as a selling point as well in their ads, and it is WELL stated as such in the 71 GM car lineup brochure.


Cylinder Leak Down Test

For those of you that have never heard of it: A leak down test pressurizes the cylinder with compressed air and gives you a percentage that it leaks (or pressure loss). 10 to 15 percent is about normal, and 3 to 7 percent is the best I've ever seen even with gapless rings on race motors.

The nice thing is that while the cylinder is pressurized you can tell not only how much leak you have, but where. Listen for air rushing from the following places, indicating problem(s) at the following area:

Area Problem
oil cap worn rings
carb throat intake valve is burnt and/or not sealing
exhaust pipe exhaust valve is burnt and/or not sealing
radiator bubbles blown head gasket, cracked cooling jackets

If you run a leak down test on the motor you can determine if you've got good ring sealing and pinpoint the head gasket leak.


Engine Noises

Try to isolate the noise by using a stethescope to track down the noise. I just use a long 3/8" extension w/my hands cupped over one end. Hold in against your ear and the other on the motor. The best way to diagnose whether it's a rod knock or not is by tracing the sound. There are stethescopes you can buy or use a long screwdriver or extension (I've got a 3/8 x 2' that works great) to trace where the sound is the loudest.

Of course, until you pull the pan you won't know the whole story. If the knock is very loud you might as well write that crank off and plan on buying another one. Besides the normal rebuild stuff and the rod and crank, the only other thing that could go bad is the block if the rod lets go before you take the motor down. Unlikely but possible. It is possible to turn the crank and resize the rod, but if the engine has been run long with a knock and it's very loud the cranks probably too far gone. The rod usually can be saved unless you've got a spun rod bearing on top of the knock.

Pay special attention to the pitch of the noise. A rod knock is much lower pitch than most valvetrain noise and take a look at oil pressure too. I have seen very bad cases where there was enough clearance in the rod journal that allowed the piston to hit the valves, but that's not that common.

A rod knock can do a bit of damage to the crank journal, as well as the connecting rod. The crankshaft won't necessarily have to be ground, but a thorough inspection is definitely in order. The rod on the other hand should be resized with new rod bolts. Not much besides those two parts and gaskets are required for repair.

A way of diagnosing which cylinder it is, it to remove 1 plug wire at a time while the engine is running, and see if that eliminates the knock. Without the plug firing on the piston/rod assembly it should quiet it down. That's the only suggestion I have for narrowing it down while the engine is still in one piece.


Oil Smoke

The exact problem depends upon when the blue smoke appears.


Open Differential Tire Speed

One thing to note for those of you with the PegLeg rear...

When you are out in the snow, having a ball spinning that one tire, it is actually traveling DOUBLE the speedometer indicated speed. This can cause rather dangerous tire failure. Posi will spin at speedo speed, but due to the nature of open diff, when one is not moving and one is, the one that is spinning is spinning 2X. Assuming you have no vehicle speed, then you would have to subtract out that.

So when I was a punk kid and punched my 76 Delta on ice with 2.73's and got the speedo wrapped ALL the way around, it was not just doing 120+, it was actually 240! Glad I did not keep it up!


Pinging

That pinging can be killed off entirely without resorting to things poured in the tank, the Mechanical Compression Ratio of the 455 in 1968-70 isn't THAT high, nor is the cam severely tuned for extreme cylinder pressures at low speeds (like for example a truck or Cadillac might use) that the car will not run correctly.

Before I mention anything else, please remember you must not permit the engine to ping for anything over a couple seconds at a time, and that the damage caused by pinging is drastically increased at higher throttle openings- thats's to say, a slight milk bottles clinking together sound at 1/8 throttle leaving the traffic light is considerably less of an issue than a hard mechanical knocking climbing a long hill at heavy throttle. Engines that ping break pistons, they cannot stand the abuse long, and it is cumulative damage. If someone let that car ping heavily in 1975, you might add the straw that breaks the camels back tonight;-) Be thoughtful of this while you drive. If you are rebuilding someday, forged pistons have somewhat greater resistance to damage from pinging, although they also break eventually.

There are different sorts of pinging too, the mildest is 'spark knock' and the worst is preignition with accompanying loss of all control of combusution and wild detonation. "pinging" is spark knock.

Gas Octane is seldom understood well. Octane is a measurement of a fuels 'anti Knock' qualities, which is a silly way of expressing its ability to burn at a controlled rate. It can go off like a flash, or it can burn in a chain reaction slowly. Lead was used as a popular additive for fuels because the formation of a lead oxide particle passing from carbon molecule to carbon molecule as each was oxidized would tend to slow the chain reaction, and hence help maintain control of combustion. There are many other ways to modulate combustion, lead was just a very inexpensive one. They all work fine at a given octane level.

The actual 'quality' of fuel is completely independent of octane. Premium fuels are no cleaner, more powerful, better made, etc. than lower octane grades. Always its desireable to use the lowest octane fuel that an engine can tolerate without pinging.

Another consideration, is it is desireable to tune your engine for gas that is generally availible straight from the pump. If your car will not run on less than 96 Pump Octane, you have problems if you live where the best gas is a 93, or travel there often.

Pump Octane which is the number on the pump is SEVERAL numbers lower than RESEARCH octane as indicated in your owners manual. A research octane of 91 is currently an 87 octane fuel at the pump. No GM engine passenger car engine ever required gas over RON #98, excepting a handful of Corvettes with extremely special order 11;1 engines etc. What this means to us now, is that the engines should run perfectly fine on ~94 pump octane fuels today. In europe, they still use Research Octane Numbers.

Many car manufacturers, GM included took advantage of high octane fuels for years to mask thier poor quality control or indifferent tuning at the dealer service departments.This means that premium fuels are less neceesary than you've been led to belive in many cases, and octane tolerance is not so critical as it might appear at first.

As a rule of thumb, subtracting one degree initial ignition advance for each point of octane you no longer have is about right, but theres a few things complicating it now. If the car should run well on lets say 94 octane, and has a factory setting of 13, and best you can but is a 91 octane, an initial lead setting of 10 degrees often is close enough to correct the pinging.

Gasolines have been changed significantly since the 1965 era, the first real lowering of octane levels was in 1967-68, which meant by 1970, most engineers had retuned the cars to compensate. Currently, fuels in many areas have a ton of 'additives' for a variety of purposes (octane boost, oxygenation of fuel, detergents , etc) added to the raw gas at the refinery which although add soime benefits in some cases, do have the unfortunate effect of displacing actual gasoline in a gallon. This means the gas is somewhat 'weaker' than before, and hence cars with fixed metering systems like carbs run leaner, and THAT really is a strong cause of knocking, as well as driveability problems, and poor mileage from premature activation of the power enrichment systems to compensate. The amount of 'watering down' of your gas varies from negligable in some places to about 5% in California and areas using MTBE additives and 'reformulated' gasolines.

Having thrown this wrench in the works, you have to retune with an eye towards compensating your engine calibrations back in the original direction.

Your cars should be tuned to tolerate whatever represents 'worst case scenario' in normal operation. This means a generally availible premium fuel for 1970 and earler cars, hottest weather and operating conditions, heavy traffic long grades whatever that you're likely to ever encounter.

The factory distributor MECHANICAL advance (flyweights and springs) is almost always 'perfectly' matched to the peak combustion pressures for a given engine. If you have a factory engine, take advantage of GM's painstaking work in this area, and ensure the distributor curve is precisely on target with the published specs. Pay attention to play in the advance mechanism parts and shaft also. An HEI from a later engine is fine if it has an identical curve, but really, doesn't have a large effect on knocking or drivability problems. Primary reason HEI was made standard equipment was to get the cars off emission warranty if you failed to change plugs. HEI works real good, but is not a significant improvement really, over a good breaker point system, certainly nothing too obvious from the driver's seat, in any event.

I gurantee your car is running slightly lean, they were set up lean to a fare thee well in 1970, and since then, the fuels have been 'watered down' some so its leaned out a little more- additionally, as the engine wears you lose a little vacuum, leaning it out further a bit. To correct this, you need larger main jets. The factory jets will have a number stamped into them, lets say '74'. It will appear at 120 degrees all the way around the perimeter of the jet, visible from the top. a '74' as in our example approximately means a 0.074" diameter hole in the jet. The actual size may vary, the number is assigned after Delco tests flow thru the jet, hence it does not always correspond precisely to the jet orfice.

A typical (not Q-Jet) carb jet is lets say GM #7002674. The "700" prefix identifies the carb family it belongs to, the '26' identifies the profile of the jet opening (different numbers mean different shapes, i.e. square cut, 'funneled' etc.) and the last two digits are the jet opening size. Ordering a jet with the same number but the last two digits about 3-6 higher will generally correct for fuel changes thru the years. In our example, this would mean going to a 7002677 to 7002680 or so. Generally, try four jet sizes larger as a start. Jets are about $3 each, quite an inexpensive part.

Carbs were mentioned here by Sparky- pay extra special attention to throttle shaft leaks etc. A good idea is to make seal kits even when the shafts are in perfect shape to keep wear from occuring. A small Viton 'O'-ring that fits freely over the shaft and a washer and light spring similar to what a ballpoint pen uses can make an extremely effective seal. Have the spring press the washer and 'O' ring against the throttle body. Preventing air leaks at every point will help prevent knocking.

The idle systems in those old carbs are also too lean. Thats going to have to wait for another post however!

A EXTRAORDINARILY common problem is a sticky, too agressive, meddlesome or otherwise overzealous vacuum advance unit. Disconnect it without fail for preliminary calibration of the carb and distributor.

You want the carb rejetted slightly richer, on the best premium fuel generally availible to you (1970 and prior only) the engine warmed completely up (40 minutes driving) and the VA disconnected (dont forget to plug the hose) and then you can attempt to set a static timing (initial lead) setting on your distributor. Set it at 10 degrees first. leave the distributor just barely loose enough that with both hands it is possible to barely move it to advance or retard it from this setting. Learn which direction achieves which, too!

Next take the car for a ride. You will need one complete pull thru at wide open throttle from about 20-80 mph to see if theres any knocking. Slowly floor the car at 20 and see if theres any knock/ping. If there is discontinue the test IMMEDIATELY and retard the ignition advance slightly. Retry until you find a point of no knocking or a significant deterioration of performance. If you retard past 'zero' on the timing tab, you've clearly gone too far;-)

If the car does NOT knock, advance it slightly a little at a time until you hear the engine start getting close to knock. IF it does knock, as always, discontinue the test, back off immediately.

By doing this you can usually discover that the car will tolerate 91-93 octane fuels nicely with only minor retard of the original timing etting( 4-8 degrees back from the published specs)

Tighten the distributor base clamp at this time and make a note of the timing lead that can be tolerated. Feel free to hook up the VA at this point if you want, if it causes pinging, you need a different more complimentary VA unit. Vacuum advance devices are often the problem. Fortunately, tons exist, and a better one is always availible.

Now you must calibrate a vacuum advance. You have a few choices here, theres literally dozens of factory ones in the wreckers, and you can compare them on the bench at home and pick some likely candidates or you can buy an adjustable one from the aftermarket manufacturers also.

The object in calibrating a VA is you want it to advance as much as possible at light throttle without going so far as to cause 'spark knock' and you want it responsive enough to get out of the way fast under sudden acceleration. If a car does not knock with the VA disconnected, the VA is the problem. You can try a couple different ones off of similar cars and often will find one that is a perfectly complimentary match for your car. If you advance your timing around three degrees from the 'ideal' setting we originally had determined with the VA disconnected, and the car is on the hairy fringes of knocking all the time at light throttle, you have found your perfect unit;-)

So, to sum up!

  1. Rejet main carb jets slightly richer (four jet sizes up is a start)
  2. Fix any possible vacuum leaks
  3. Check distributor mechanical advance and condition
  4. Find a tolerable initial advance setting for the car with no VA active
  5. Find a VA unit that flatters the car

If this doesnt work, you may have other problems- Carbon is VERY unlikely, since unleaded fuels became the norm, and high detergent gasolines for FI, it is very unusual indeed to find significant carbon deposits in an engine anymore. If you have an emission test for this car, I'd be extremely interested in seeing it, they can tell you a lot about a cars tuning. A big flag is NoX over 800ppm at idle.



Adhesives, RTV, Silicone, Gasket Dressing Usage

For those of you who may believe that silicone is the cureall, it is not. Gasoline will dissolve silicone very quickly, thus do not use silicone where it will be in contact with gasoline. Ahhh, the voice of experience, the best teacher but not the cheapest.

Regardless of what you use to create a seal between two components, the seal created is only as strong and durable as how clean (grease-free) you have made the two sealing surfaces. Use lacquer thinner, carb cleaner or brake cleaner. Clean any bolt holes as well for a better grip on the bolt or stud.

The engine is in and the only thing left is to install the intake manifold and carb and go cruising. Well, while busy doing something else your son/daughter/friend/spouse/significant other/drunken neighbor (take your pick) decides that the best way to seal the intake is to use silicone around each of the intake ports. Not, a good idea unless you want to coat your valves, runners, combustion chambers, pistons and so forth with a coating of baked gooey silicone in the color of your choice. What a mess. Silicone dissolves in contact with fuel but once baked to perfection in the cylinder it is a bear (choose your own word) to get off. Live and learn. Use gasgacinch only and silicone only around the water ports.. no wonder the plugs were so fouled!

Use gasket dressing, RTV and sealer in moderation. Let these sit a couple of minutes to either penetrate the gasket or take a bit of a "set".

Put some silicone in the four corners where the intake mates with the heads and block in the back and front. I am against silicone in most gasket procedures but I put silicone in all the "corners" that appear for example. I suggest you also use a bead of silicone around the water ports. Around the intake ports, I don't use silicone, but use brush tack or similar. Also in the corners of the oil pan.

The red loctite I've seen is used to lock in hardened exhaust seats (on top of the press fit), but I use the blue loctite on stuff that you don't want coming loose, but still want to be able to get loose, like flexplate bolts and such. The blue is just extra insurance against vibration, but you can still get it out with a little effort. Believe the bottle on the 271 when it says you need a torch to get it out!

Take a look at Loctite's web site: http://www.loctite.com/.

Gasket Dressings
These materials will soften the gasket to make it take the form of the two sealing surfaces easier. Good for helping a gasket seal rough surfaces. Hylomar, High-Tack are examples. Remains flexible, doesn't harden, so the gasket can be removed in the future and reused. Don't use without a gasket! Acetone will usually remove these sealants.

RTV / Silicone
This is a gasket making material. Good for sealing rough surfaces. It will usually breakdown in contact with gasoline. Breaks down in contact with paint thinner (actually a great way to remove it from covers). Since it is a gasket material, why is it put on gaskets? A gasket on a gasket?

I personally would NOT put silicone anywhere near oil. Silicone can be used to glue the gaskets on the cover but if you intend to open the covers and put them back again, don't glue the covers on the block.

Silicone can tear off (after some years in hot conditions) in pieces that may clog the oil paths. In the case of valve cover, they usually clog the oil return holes. You imagine the rest of this story. So, when you use silicone as a sealing agent, use it in places where it can't run away even if it has lost some (or all) of it's plastic properties.

Luckily silicone is quite stabil in chemical means. It can withstand most solvents. However, it is soluable in alcohol. For example, glycol (antifreeze) makes silicone loose it's elstic properties pretty fast (1 year or so). This makes the use of silicone questionable in intake manifolds.

Sealants
These materials are kind of like RTV, and sort of like a gasket dressing, but don't necessarily harden. They work well for sealing smooth surfaces. Rough surfaces usually leak. Acetone will usually remove these sealants


Grease

For Rubber: I have always been told not to allow rubber bushings to get petroleum based oils on them. Petroleum products cause deterioration of the rubber. I have always been told to use silicone to lubricate bushings, engine mounts, and other rubber products.


Assembly Tips

There may come the time when you'll need to get a new thermostat housing, or exhaust manifold, or miscellaneous cover to make anything seal. If these methods don't seem to be working for you then you probably need a new or a part that's in better condition.

You might consider replacing the gasket with a performance gasket (metal between the cork). Do not overtighten. After driving 100 miles or so, tighten down 1/4 turn.

Exhaust Manifolds: If the block and the manifolds are in good shape there should be NO gasket between them. They are not needed. There weren't any put on by the factory. If you do need to use a gasket to corecct for some small warpage the used the metal sided gaskets and install the gasket DRY with the metal side to the manifold.

Intakes: From my experience with Oldsmobiles I can tell you to use Permatex "Brush Tack" around your intake passages on both sides of the steel shim gasket. Also you want to use a small amount of RTV around the water passages. Mondello recomends using "his" Velpoloid fiber intake gasket, because of the different expansion rates of aluminum and cast iron. The fiber will withstand the scuffing alot better.

When installing your metal tubs use brushtack for all surfaces around intake ports and water passages (both sides). Drop a small ball of Silicone sealer only in the corners of the valley. Use the rubber end gaskets. Olds don't like beads of silicone like Ch*vys do.

I have found that these gaskets need to be dry-fit first, bent & tweaked a bit here & there until they stay in place themselves, held by the little round burrs punched in that mate with the "extra" holes in the heads. THEN apply the sealer for the intake ports, then the silicone, then every so carefully lower the unit, back end first under the dist'r, about 1/2" above the final position, then line up the slotted bolt hole pretty close [LH side fwd short bolt], then lower the last little bit and set properly. 45 degrees should be fine for silicone.

In conjunction with the stock-style sheetmetal valley-pan gasket, I used RTV blue around the water passages, and I laid a big bead in place of the end-seals. I also used RTV red around the crossover ports, and spray-on copper gasket around the intake ports (all surfaces). No leaks so far. Oh, yeah, I used the Performer intake as well.

Also, the torque sequence in my manual says to start with the outside bolts and work in. I followed the shop-manual procedure for the Olds, which works from the outside in. Those mechanics are, of course, thinking of that other small-block, which does in fact tighten its intake bolts starting with the inside ones. Do to an Olds what an Olds requires.

Thermostat/Water Pump: When replacing one of these used #1 hardening Permatex on both sides of your gaskets, set the gasket on the part with some, get it positioned and let set for 5 minutes. Then put a small bead around the other side let sit again for 5 minutes and install. Any of the silicones can cause gasket slip and be unsightly when it squeezes out around the gaskets.

Valve Covers: I have had excellent results by using Permatex HARDENING sealer. I put it only on the valve cover side of the gasket and let it sit for 5 minutes. When you install it place it on the engine after you thoroughly clean it with alcohol. Then start lightly tightening the bolts from the center out. Go around the valve cover twice. Use a nut driver and only tighten them good ans snug. DON'T over tighten them. They will last for 3 years or so this way. As for the oil pan do the same thing only difference is that you put a slight amount on the block also. You will NOT have leaks. Hope this helps. I personally prefer the rubber gaskets over cork.

Torque is a big factor in valve cover gasket sealing. It's easy to overtorque them, especially the newer ones with fewer holddown bolts. What often happens is the cover is bent downward where the gasket compresses most from the bolt. This makes sealing tough. Make sure all the boltholes are not bent downwards, and take care not to overtorque the gaskets. The blue goo is a good idea, that I often adhere to. I've seen people use weatherstrip adhesive to glue the gasket onto the valve cover. This seems to work well, if the cover is ~clean~. If there's any crap on the surfaces, you'll need some damn good sealer to stick to it. I'm a big fan of the Permatex Ultra Copper. Good stuff. I don't much care for the generic blue silicon goo. It seems like there is a reliability difference. Of course, two years really isn't ~that~ bad.

I've found the best thing is Felpro rubber gaskets and Indian Head gasket shellac. First clean both surfaces really good then use a fine emery cloth, apply shellac to the heads and valve covers. Put the gasket on the valve cover side first, then a little more on the gasket itself, let everything get "tacky". Position the cover and tighten. The stuff sticks so well, you won't need to hold it in place while you start the screws.

Another important thing - make sure the valve covers are not bent where the screws go through. If they are, they won't tighten down evenly. Gently tap them with a hammer on a flat surface until their straight again.

Overall: I've used Indian Head on everthing. Rear end covers, thermostats, valve covers, water pumps, etc. never unhappy with the results.

Originality not a concern, I use 1-1/4" long set screws and self locking all metal stainless steel nuts on my valve covers along with the other tricks mentioned. Just tighten the the nut until it contacts the cover, and then 1/2 turn more.


Soldering/Brazing/Welding

Welding involves actually melting the parent metal, either with or without a compatible filler rod, and allowing it to cool and fuse into a homogeneous part.

Brass is used in brazing, which is more like soldering, but at a higher temperature and using the brass instead of the lead/tin solder. The parent metal is not melted in either brazing or soldering - thus much less heat is used. A brazed joint is much stronger than a soldered joint, but still a long way from a properly welded joint. The lower heat of brazing makes it good for some types of sheet metal repair (like brazing up trim holes where the trim will no longer be installed), as the lower heat produces less warpage.

If the brazing is done right, with no cold joints it will never flake off. In rare cases, like a lap joint with thin metel, brazing is actually stronger than a weld.


Oil Change

Read these instructions completely before proceeding to identify tools and items you need, and to familiarize yourself with this procedure!

Figure on about 45 minutes and a beer to do this comfortably. 20 minutes at higher speed. About an hour for a more complete oil pan drain.

Items needed (outside of regular tools):

Preparation
It is best to have just driven the car or warm the engine to normal operating temperature. The oil will drain easier and you will remove more particulate matter from the oil pan.

Block with rear wheels (at least one side), front and rear, with some blocks (scrap 2x4's will do). Raise the car on a hydraulic jack or the factory one and support it with jackstands. Get it high enough so you can crawl under and move your arms comfortably. Put on your rubber gloves and grab a rag.

You might want to let the car cool for a while, but it's probably better to just get the oil change over with. The oil plug and oil will be a little hot. The rubber gloves will protect your hands. Just watch out for the exhaust manifolds and pipes, otherwise you'll burn yourself.

The Procedure
Crawl under the car and locate the oil drain plug, it should be on the bottom of the oil pan somewhere near the center. Put the oil drain pan underneath the drain plug.

Loosen the drain plug a couple of turns or to finger tightness, but don't take it all the way out with the wrench or oil will go everywhere. Unscrew the drain plug by hand, pressing it tight against the oil pan so as to not let any or much oil flow, and to not let the plug fall into the oil drain pan. When you are ready, in one quick motion, pull the plug down and to the side to minimize the amount of oil that gets on your hand.

Let the old oil drain out of the oil pan. Now that the plug is out, it's time to take care of the filter. Grab another oil pan or small container and a rag. Crawl under the car's passenger side, just behind the front wheel.

Locate the filter, position the extra oil pan, and loosen the fileter a half to full turn, just so you can spin it by hand. This is important. Check the position of the extra oil pan again, maybe hold it close to the filter. Now give the filter a 1/4 to 1/3 turn and wait for a stream of oil to come down the side. Nothing? Spin it again and wait. Continue for a 3-4 turns. The filter won't be ready to fall off yet. At some point, an oil stream should run down the side of the filter.

Let it drip til it almost stops. Wipe the bottom, then spin it until it is loose, then carefully take it loose, keep it horizontal and place into the extra oil pan, or wiggle your way from under the car and drain the filter in the garage.

An alternative way is to loosen the filter until you you can spin it off with your hand, but don't spin it off just yet or you'll make a big mess. Put some paper towels just below the filter to catch what drips off. Some always does.

Take one ziplock bag and slip it over the old filter as you spin it off. It will capture the old oil as it oozes from the old filter. Keep spinning until the old filter is off. Ziplock the bag, but force the air out just before it closes. Slip the ziplock containing the filter into the second one, and now you can cleanly handle and dispose of the old filter.

Now that the filter is off, wipe the filer mount area clean. Crawl from under the car, grab the new filter and a quart of oil. Slowly fill the shiny new oil filter. Watch out, it absorbs fast, but can get overfilled in a hurry. Keep filling for a few minutes or until it is about 2/3 full. Dip your filter in a bit of the new oil and run a thin film around the rubber gasket on the new filter.

Crawl under the car again, filter, clean rag, and filter wrench in hand. Wipe the sealing surface of the filter mount again, then install the new filter hand tight. Careful around that exhaust crossover pipe. Turn the filter 3/4 to one full turn after it contacts the base. Again don't over tighten or it will leak.

The old oil should be dripping from the pan at this point. How long you let it drip is up to you, but the more of the olds stuff that comes out the better.

When you are satisfied, replace the oil drain plug. Make sure there is some sort of metal or plastic washer with the plug! If not, you lost the washer, find it! Torque the plug to snug, but not overtight. The Chassis Manual will say around 50 ft/lbs, but that sounds a bit high to me. Just don't strip that plug or things get to be a pain. Wipe the oil pan bottom clean so you can look for leaks later.

Slowly (!) slide the filled oil drain pan out from under the car. Too quick and you'll spill oil everywhere. Empty into a plastic container that you can take to the oil collection center. Milk jugs are too thin and will leak over time. Use a coolant or windshield washer jug. When you dispose of the oil, keep the jug and reuse it. Dispose of your old oil responsibly. There might be gas stations, repair shops, or auto parts stores might take your old oil for free.

Put the wrenches back on your workbench, or listen as you drive over them.

Locate the oil fill tube on the front of the engine. Take the remaining oil from the first quart, which didn't quite fit in the filter, and pour it down the oil fill tube.

Pour in four (five for a Toronado engine) more quarts of oil for a total of 5 (Toro: 6) including what's in the filter. Put the cap back on the oil tube.

Check under the car for a puddle of oil. No puddle, start the engine. The oil pressure light will come on for a couple of seconds while the oil galleries are pressurized. Let it run a minute, then run it at around 2000 RPM for a minute or two. Shut the engine off. Check the oil drain plug and top and sides of the filter for leaks. Any leakage, retighten, then check again.

Pull out jackstands, lower the vehicle back onto the ground, and remove the wheel blocks. Record mileage and date.

Have a beer, you've done it.

Post Operative Checks
Once the car has cooled, check the oil level on the dip stick. Probably hard to read with new oil, but it can be done. Level should be at or slightly above FULL.

Check for oil puddles or excessive oil usage for a couple of days to a week just to make sure you performed this correctly.

Hints
A big piece of cardboard really helps when crawling underneath the car. You can slide around easier, and it keep the pavement clean from spills. The filled oil pan slides out easier too.


Master Cylinder Bleeding

Method #1: Plug both ports (screw in metal fittings are best, but it is possible to hold the rubber plugs that typically come with a new cylinder in place) Fill with brake fluid. With top cover off, stroke the piston until air ceases to be expelled from the ports in the bottom of the reservoir. If you have a vice, you can clamp the cylinder in the vise and use a wood rod to stroke the cylinder. If no vice is handy, I have resorted to holding the cylinder against my hip or abdomen and placing the wood rod against a convenient brick wall to stroke the piston.

Method #2: Screw bleeder lines into the ports. These run from the ports up to the reservoir. Can be purchased or easily made from lines taken from a junk car. Fill with brake fluid. Make sure the bleeder lines are submerged in the fluid. Stroke the piston as above, only you are watching for no more air from the ends of the lines rather than the ports in the bottom of the reservoir.

Both methods work fine, but method 2 requires much less effort as the pressure is vented by the lines. Failing to bench bleed can make it very hard to get a firm pedal on the car.


Brake Bleeding

Gravity bleed: Doesn't produce positive pressure within the brake line to sufficiently "push" air bubbles from areas where an auto manufacture winds a brake line in a circle removing slack in what might be a line originally produced for a longer wheel base frame. Air is buoyant within brake fluid and will come to rest in line high points. I would think with gravity feed, a lot of brake fluid better pass through that line to insure all air removed, (particularly when priming new line).

Vacuum bleed: Effects negitive pressure at brake line end that decreases the longer the line is. Air bubbles say in the line nearest the MC may not be dislodged to travel the line length. Not to mention that you could never produce a massive vacuum that would in effect proper total line fluid movement. The negative suction will decrease within the line the longer the line. Try siphoning a fluid through a 3' hose vs a 10' hose. The negitive suction required would increase exponentially as length increases and/or diameter decreases.

Submersing hose in collection reservoir does restrict air from re-entering line, (line end submerged), but also allows contaminates to suck back in when pedal released to draw more brake fluid from reservoir into piston cylinder (negitive line pressure). Hence, your only actually moving apx. 2/3rds of the fluid stroke. I would say apx 1/3rd of the fluid dispensed would be sucked back in line as pedal rises for next stroke.

Pedal pressure bleed: Optimal as even though the pet cock is open and positive pressure is far less than a closed line, still, more pressure is developed to "Push" air bubbles from front to rear. Even on an open line, the positive hydraulic line pressure would far out pace any vacuum from the other direction. A positive pressure (hydraulically) would seek it's pushed line level, (even on an open line), and remain constant to line end and fluid dispel.

So, yes the line end ball check valve is valuable to this process. In fact most all hydraulic systems contain such devices. However at $7.00 + S/H per wheel? No. Buy One, attach it to a length of aquarium air line and move it from wheel to wheel as you bleed the system. Don't forget longest line first, (usually passenger rear wheel). I also remember in the pre vacuum boost MC, not to allow pedal to travel full deflection as that allowed the MC piston to travel past reservoir intake port allowing brake fluid to enter behind the piston. I recall that the standard was no more than 3/4 pedal deflection travel, than on to the next stroke.

According to the Oldsmobile factory chassis manual, the recommended order for bleeding the brakes is left front, right front, left rear, right rear - in other words, closest to farthest. At least, that's what all the factory service manuals from 1966 to 1971 say. Now, frankly, I suspect this ranks right up there with the great debate on which way the toilet paper hangs, but now you know what Lansing was thinking. (Note that this does not take into account any variations in newer cars with ABS or other features.)



Distributor Install

Read these instructions completely before proceeding to identify tools and items you need, and to familiarize yourself with this procedure!

Ok, here's the deal. Assuming you have the original points type, it's pretty simple. Do this before you start, however. I'll exlplain why later. Find the TDC for #1 piston on the firing stroke (remove dist. cap so you can see rotor). The rotor should be lined up for firing #1 cylinder. Once this is done, then remove the black lead from the (-) side of the coil that goes to the distributor base. Remove the vacuum can hose connection, and then, with a distributor wrench, or long extension, a 9/16" socket, and a ratchet, you can remove the bolt holding down the clamp on the driver's side of the distribuor where it goes down in the block. Remove bolt and retainer, then you should be able to wiggle the distributor straight up and out of it's location. Try twisting the housing back and forth if it seems stuck. If it's REALLY stuck, hoo boy. STOP, and reconsider your options. May have to drop the oil pan/pump/drive rod assembly and use a long rod and hammer to tap it out from the bottom (been there and done THAT too!). No fun.

IMPORTANT. WITH THE DISTRIBUTOR OUT OF THE ENGINE, AT THIS POINT, DO NOT DISTURB THE CRANKSHAFT POSITION!!! Find a suitable FME (foreign material exclusion) cover to place in or over the hole in the block to keep junk out. If the oil pump rod came out with the distributor, it's not a great big deal, but hopefully it's because someone FORGOT to put the retainer washer in during assembly.

Assuming all goes well, when reinstalling, reverse the procedure. If the rotor is in the same position as when you started when installed, then you shouldn't be too far off on your timing. Once you get the engine started, time to desired settings as normal.


Setting Idle

Use a vacumn guage connected to full manifold vacumn, and after setting the base timing and desired idle speed, adjust the idle bleed screw on each side of the carb to obtain max rpm or vacuum. Readjust the RPM idle screw after each side and then carefully trim both sides, and lean it just enough to obtain a 40-50 rpm drop. This is best lean idle.


Installing a Heli-Coil

A Helicoil is essentially a "spring" of stainless steel wire wound so that the inside diameter of the Helicoil is the same as the female thread you're repairing. The wire used in the Helicoil is a diamond cross-section (instead of round) so that you actually have a set of female threads on the inside and male threads on the outside. The kit comes with an installation tool and a special tap to allow you to tap a new hole for the Helicoil to screw into. You'll need to get the correct tap drill (not included) to open up the stripped hole prior to using the new tap. The Helicoil package will specify the correct drill size.

Simply open up the stripped hole with the drill (be sure to keep is straight) and tap it. Screw the Helicoil insert over the installation tool, coat the outside of the insert with Locktite, and screw it into the hole. It will compress slightly on installation. When the top coil is below the surface of the intake, unscrew the installation tool, leaving the Helicoil in the hole. The bottom end of the coil will be bent in towards the center (which allowed the installation tool to drive it) and this tang must be broken off using a small screwdriver or punch. Be sure to pull it out of the hole using needle nose pliers or a dab of grease on the end of a screwdriver.

You now have repaired the threads to their original size and can use this as you would any tapped hole. In fact, if the piece is aluminum, the repaired threads will be stronger than the originals. This works with aluminum or cast iron pieces.

Siezed Soft Metal

I had a similar problem with a Oil Pressure sending unit brass fitting broken off in the block. Hollow fitting, and the threads stuck in the hole, with nothing to get a bead on. I successfully (and in about 45 seconds, once I took two days to figure out how to do it), used the following method: Step 1: Get 1/4 extension Step 2: Get 1/4 inch Torx bit, slightly larger in shank than the fitting's oil passageway (hollowed out spark plug's passageway) Step 3: Place torx bit on extension Step 4: HAMMER torx/extension into fitting/hole (spark plug passageway) Step 5: Attach ratchet Step 6: Ratchet the thing out of there.

The problem is that brass is probably significantly softer than what your spark plugs are made out of (???)...still, you might try it. Depending on how much material there is between the inside hole and the spark plug hole threads, this could work..


Siezed Spark Plug Shell

Try screwing a reverse threaded screw into the plug. You might have to drill a small pilot hole in the middle of the plug first. This way, when the screw (maybe a small bolt would work?) doesn't go in anymore, it'll start turning the plug out. Oh, and you should probably shoot a bunch of penetrating oil in there too (around the plug), and let it sit for a while. That'll help loosen the plug. Also, if you get a can of compressed air and hold it upside dowm when you spray it, it comes out really cold (definitely way below freezing). Try shooting this on the plug. This should shrink the plug (cold shrinks things slightly) and that may make it easier to come out as well. This won't damage the aluminum at all, actually cold makes aluminum temporarily get really hard, harder than steel even, and when it gets back to room temp. it returns to normal.

Try spot welding a flat piece of metal to the inside of the threads and remove by unscrewing.

Use Justice Brothers JB-80. Its twice as good it says so on the can. Use a propane torch or Oxy/Acetylene to heat the remains. Get it pretty hot, then tap in the straight flute screw extractor. Then dowse it with JB-80. (you can get it from a good shop). Tap the piece again, and begin to remove it. It will still be hot, so be careful, and it WILL come out. Make sure when you put a new plug in, to use Anti-Seize compound.