Projects Plan II - 62 Chevy II Drag Car

The oil seems to be coming between the head and gasket, then seeping up the bolt threads. I got some of the normal Fel Pro cork gaskets, I'll give them a try. The rubber seems to squish out when tightening the bolts. Cork doesn't usually do that.

 

the oil analysis came in. I guess it's ok for now.

 

You might want to try some 'Yamabond' (available at any Yamaha dealer) instead of a gasket. You've got a machined rail on the heads, I'm assuming cast covers with a flat surface, this stuff will 'flow' onto adjoining surfaces rather than just squeeze a bead out (kinda like if you could get inside and push the sealer onto the joint). Only downsides are it does need a 24 hour cure time (but if you're not pulling the covers real often it works great), and it won't fill big gaps. I use it in lieu of gaskets on both my cars (where I can) and motorcycles, this stuff doesn't leak as long as the surfaces are clean and dry. Cleans off pretty easy when you pull the part too.

 

The covers are the old 1960s chrome stamped steel well used ones...bent, warped, old, junk. But they look right, and they fit. I set the engine right up against the firewall on purpose, so I'd have to run these crappy old valve covers. There's a method to my madness.

 

Have you tried 'The Right Stuff' (yes, that's it's name)? Another great sealer, more forgiving of poor fit.

 

I've used it in the past, but I'm not too keen on it, especially for something like this...I'm going to see how cork does...it used to work in the old days, after all.

One thing I don't like about the modern sealers like that, is that I seem to need about a dollar's worth, but I have to spend fifteen bucks for it, and the rest goes bad before I get a chance to use it.

 

Those gaskets look pretty used up, and the valve covers ain't far behind, Jim. Might be time to give up the ghost. Only time I ever had a problem with a v/c leaking, it was a case of over tightening.

 

Yeah, there's that.... Don't think I've ever fully used a whole tube. But a lot of time the fact that I didn't have to buy any gaskets evens it out... LOL.

 

Put on some new gaskets and squirt some sealer in the bolt hole that are close and tighten them down.

 

i had a similiar problem on my sbc. i hammered the covers straight then used the right stuff to seal the gasket to the head. no sealant was used on the top side of the gasket. problem solved. no leaks and i can take the covers off with out destroying the gasket.

 

We'll see what happens.

Another interesting thing about the rubber vs. cork gaskets: I was working on the car at night, when nothing is open. I looked around on some of the parts store web pages. O Reilly only lists the Fel Pro rubber gaskets, plus they have a bunch of cork and composite Mr Gasket sets they can order. NAPA lists the rubber and cork Fel Pro sets, and the let me order parts to pick up at the store, from online. So I ordered a set of the C (cork) gaskets. Then on Monday I went to my favorite independent parts store, and he had a set of cork Fel Pro gaskets in stock, they were probably a couple years old. I got them, that's what I used to replace the driver side gasket with. Today I went to Napa to buy the set I ordered from them, and they turned out to be rubber gaskets, in a box marked C (cork). They also stock a set of the R (rubber) gaskets. Turns out both boxes had the same rubber gaskets in them, but if you order the Cork set, you pay less, and wait an extra day to get them! I guess you just don't get what you want, these days.

 

Did this on mine. Pretty sure you recommended it on another thread. Worked killer.

 

I always use Indian Head Cement with cork gaskets, (both sides) and usually never have a problem.

 

See if you can futz around with the covers to get them flatter or find a better set. On cork gaskets, I apply some blue silicone to the valve cover, set the gasket in place and tie it through the holes with heavy sewing thread. This keeps it tight, let the sealer set up overnight. Then a little more blue RTV to the gasket, I locate the covers using threaded rod, jockey them around so the holes line up nicely. I let that sit for a couple of hours and install (torque) the cover bolts. Try those spreader bars (iteration of a Corvair part), they work.

 

With the cork type bonded (only) to the tin GM cover, after a brief warm up you could tighten them down a bit further. The spreader bars helped too.

 

Back to work....I got the gaskets to seal pretty well, and took the car on Drag Weekend at the end of October last fall. It was fun....nice, relaxed event. Covered well over 1000 miles driving to Tucson and back and back again, then to Phoenix the long way, and out to LA. When I ran in LA the car was missing on the whole pass, so I checked the plugs (imagine having to do that!) and #6 was fouled, looked like soot from oil. New plugs, and it ran ok, but still occasionally would miss on the drive back home. I don't know what was causing that.

Anyways, with over 10k miles on the car now, and the mysterious oil thing on #6, I decided I probably ought to pull the motor out and pull the heads and look things over. I finally got around to it today...not all the way done, but the motor is almost ready to pull. There is quite a bit of oil in the #6 intake port. The intake gasket was sealing just fine. There is a plug in the port for the extra stud (used on the ZL1), but I think it's sealing. The guide or seal is probably messed up. I'll find out when I get the heads off and apart.

 

I can x2 crazy steves reccomendation on Yamabond ( #5 is a sealer #4 is a silicone) , when I worked on bikes it was the only sealant to use as yamaha used it to seal cases without gaskets and they never leaked when applied and the lower end of a sport bike does make some pressure in the crank/gear case , also if you have a sealer on the aluminum it will not allow the gaskets to grab , kind of like a british bike and there extra fine case machining , too fine a finish and the gasket will not grab , rough it up with some 240-300 grit and the gaskets grab and seal .

 

That is a sweet car! I am building a 62 with my 14 year old daughter! It will be her car she has done a ton of work on the car and plans on racing it next summer! We will be at the Meltdowns this summer with it!

 

Nice car! I hope to get to the Meltdown this year if it doesn't get in the way of Bonneville prep, although the B"ville car owner was there last year (Drag Nasty 'Vette). Based on the Nic-backwards K-Y on the rear quarter, I'll bet you know John Tinberg.

vic

 

That is fantastic. I wish that my daughter had shown continued interest. She was always with me to car shows, swap meets, etc until age 12. Then it was like a switch that was turned off : "no more car stuff." That was eight years ago.

 

I got the motor out tonight. Interesting to see how it looks after that many miles. The bores look good, the #6 intake valve seat looks a bit funny, and the little plug in the #6 intake port was loose...which would explain the oil. Like a fool, I never pulled the plugs out and sealed them when I was working on the heads. Also on each side, there is one area where the head gasket was seeping a bit...the same area where the extra head stud goes on a ZL1, since that head bolt is "missing" from the 6 bolt pattern that is around 4 of the cylinders, but not the other four (the intake port is right where the bolt should be).

 

"Interesting" burn patterns on the valve heads in the two right chambers in the photos.

 

I don't worry about burn patterns...they are what they are. The oil leak, and the chatter marks on the valve seats concern me a bit. But it looks like easy fixes. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the performance of the engine. It's just a bunch of old junk thrown together with a few new parts. The pistons seem to be doing fine, they're from India. Rings look like they're sealing real well.

 

Valve guides are no big deal and will fix up whatever you got there. Pistons from India, saw that on my new set of Speed Pro pistons... and they were not cheap either.

 

I thought they were pretty cheap, I think it was around 300 for the set of forged pistons. That's less than they cost 20 years ago. (I bought these ones in 2013)

 

Mine are cast, .030 over, some nifty coating on the skirts, .062 ring widths. $294 from Summit, could have gotten cheapo ones for $90 & up for a set.

 

Jim
The words "blown big block" and "India" just have an odd ring to it.
I can picture Rajeev turning pistons on the same lathe as the one he uses to spin his brass spitoons.

 

heh....these ones are made to modern specifications, using modern processes. Like anything else that gets made overseas, they will do it to the quality level you specify (and pay for). And no better.

 

Hot Rod did a feature story on the car on the web, lots of pictures...so I get to see what I look like going down the drag strip

https://www.motortrend.com/news/9-second-altered-wheelbase-chevy-ii/

 

Great article! Such a cool car. Great job!


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