Fixin Vacuum Leaks and Upsidedown PCV valves with John Lee

[Sharps40]

As ya know, blew one engine, breakin in another.

In both I'd tuned em and installed Weber 32/36 and new PCV, etc.

Imagin when my new motor developed a loose nut on the carb adapter and leak at the central manifold runner due to cheep gasket. Combine those leaks with an upsidedown PCV valve and there weren't enough jet left in the weber to splash gasoline on all that extra air.

Wondering idle, stalling, no power, missing, deceleration popping....

So, walked thru all the joints on the vacuum system, one at a time with WD40 cause it makes the engine speed up instead of slowing down. Easier to tell when yer workin with a rough as a cob idle.

Traced the new power brake booster, dizzy can, intake runners, carb base, carb adapter to manifold and pcv valve.

I found three leaks. Big one at the central runner to head joint, a big one where one of two carb adapter to manifold bolts was finger loose and an upside down PCV essentially equaling a third large vacuum leak.

Dayum.

[Sharps40]

So, fixed the PCV. Installed it correctly. One leak eliminated.

Fixed the carby to manifold leak. Snorked that nut down till it smoked. Second leak eliminated.

Went to Oreillies with my $5 off coupon, bought a new felpro steel/fiber/steel intake/exhaust gasket and a can of my newest favoritest product: Hi Temp Spray Goo! Good god, Goo in a can, Spray Goo in a can......I drove 92 mph home cause I wanna try out this stuff!

Pics and results coming as soon as I dumb down the photos from 4g to something the board will handle. Stand by.

PS - I am almost as in love with Hi Temp Spray Goo as I am with Beer Tap Woman...almost.

[Sharps40]

Getting the linkage and the tubing outta the way. I'm gonna try this one by tilting the manifold out and toward the drivers fender suspended on the head pipe.



The manifold bolts and nuts are removed in order. I'm replacing all the old lock washers with new ones. There is no water leakage on the 250 when pullin the manifolds, nothing pokes into the water jacket on the old sixes.



Swung out of the way...the manifold gasket that came with the engine is one of the lesser quality foil covered composites. fortunately, none stuck to the manifold, its all on the head.



No matter how well ya scrape it with razor blades, composite gaskets adhere to the metal and refuse to come all the way off. I want a good smooth surface, free of old gasket so I don't have to do this job again.



Wire brush on the drill, a good shop light and wire brush again to get all the lil bits.



Granddaughters Winchester ear muffs come in handy....the drill is loud.



The old gasket is one of the thin composite ones. It is also siamesed on the runners like the manifolds.



Final kiss after scraping and wire brushing is a kiss of the surfaces with 120g paper.

[Sharps40]

Since I sprayed in a lot of oil for locatin vacuum leaks, and made a buncha scrapings and a buncha dust with the wire brush and sandpaper......clean the snot outta everything and degrease the metal for best grab by the Wonderous Magnificant Hi Temp Spray Goo I found.

A dollar store bottle of Awesome is one of the best cleaner degreasers I've found. Vacuumed out the runners and wiped em all out inside too.



Pulled a lotta grease and gunk off the cleaned up metal mating surfaces of the manifold and head.



The new Felpro gasked it steel and steel over composite. It is not siamesed like the runners/head and can be used on 194 thru 292 cu in I6 Chevy's.

Here the solid steel side is shown. It (the bare steel side) goes against the manifold per Fel Pro instructions in the kit.



Here the perforated steel side is shown. Per Fel Pro instructions, this side goes against the head.

The steel on this gasket is much much much thicker than the foil on the original rebuild gasket. Its a much better quality one. For $9.99 less a $5 coupon, I'm happy.



Ah, technology. Wonder of Wonders. I'm learning my new Kindle HD, have 60+ albums on it now, watch free TV and Movies, free games, read books, surf the web and email.....and then I discover Hi Temp Spray Goo.....Be Still My Heart, Palpitations Galore, Blood Throbbin in my Head like an imminent aneruysm....I'm in love again.....welcome to the 21st Century! Spray Goo, Hi Temp too.....whoda thought?



Three coats each side, 30 second tack time tween coats like the can says and then time to go stick it!



From here its easy....gasket on the studs, manifold on the studs, add nuts and studs and torque. My Motors manual says 30 ft lbs center runner, 20 ft lbs end runners. I torque from the center out. Well, all but the center runner, no getting a torque wrench on them....so by hand then.



And back together it looks like it did before John Lee started suckin air thru every orifice like a floosie on cheep gin.

[Sharps40]

So, I fire the ol boy back up. Semi smooth idle, 300 rpm hot idle. Adjusted the choke fast idle cam and off we went for a ride.

The ride was okay...much improved but I could tell, poor ol boy was weak and pig rich now there were no leaks and the signal across the jets was proper and strong.

Into the garage hot and idleing at 300ish rpm and imagine my joy as I leaned down the mix from 2.75 turns rich to 1.5 turns rich. RPM went up and John Lee smoothed out real nice. Fine tuned the idle speed screw on the linkage 1.6 turns in from first contact with the linkage and wammo, 500 rpm, smooth as glass, no putting, no gen light....just the quiet purr of the ol inline 6, silkie like.

Buttoned up the carbie hat and filter and banged on the timeing light for a recheck.....17 degrees BTDC like I had it before. Checked the tail pipe, less stinky and not burnin my eyes....off we go for a drive.

Boy does it drive!

First time this weber, over two engines, has been dead center of the allowable adjustments. Jetting is right close (some tuning to do on the secondary yet) and power is up. We ain't compensatin for a big PCV valve leak or sufferin with additional leaks that couldn't be compensated for by the carbie. Its at lean best idle and I'm lookin forward to tomorrow mornings cold start and trundling down the road to work with the new found power.

[Sharps40]

We went for a good ride and a cigar. I love Fel Pro. But mosta all I love Goo....

Blu Goo

Red Goo

Black Max Goo

and now.....the greatestist of all, Hi Temp Spray Goo!

Goo is great, Goo is good, Thankfully I got Goo.

[boucher racing]

Mr. Goo

Awesome! I need to do this.... again. I bought a mr. gasket that is a composite one, but have not installed it yet. That Fel-Pro looks much more durable.

Boucher'

[Sharps40]

Goo it no matter what. Goo is the muscle and tendons of the motor....nothing else holds it together, not even bolts and stuff....only the Goo.

[T and S]

Bear with me here, I am new to these rigs. So you have a webber 2 barrel carb on your stock intake, and I take it that is an adapter in between ? I was just wondering if I have that straight in my head. Thanks

[tincan1966]

1 recommendation to add. If your exhaust manifold has been leaking for a long period of time(like many of these old engines do) make sure you check the manifold surface is flat. They do have a tendency to warp over time.

A couple passes at the machine shop on the head surfacer can save a lot of headache later, and reduce the need for any secondary sealant.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by T and S

Bear with me here, I am new to these rigs. So you have a webber 2 barrel carb on your stock intake, and I take it that is an adapter in between ? I was just wondering if I have that straight in my head. Thanks

Yep. Contact Tom Langdon, Stovebolt Engine Company. I have the Progressive Weber 32/36 DGEV (electric choke) on the adapter.

Currently pulling 17.5 mpg on the break in of this new 250 I6. At the 4K or 5K mile mark - next oil change- I'll prolly get real serious on the tune. Should be able to get 19 or so mpg wif the 5 speed and the 3.73 rear.

[Sharps40]

Originally Posted by tincan1966

1 recommendation to add. If your exhaust manifold has been leaking for a long period of time(like many of these old engines do) make sure you check the manifold surface is flat. They do have a tendency to warp over time.

A couple passes at the machine shop on the head surfacer can save a lot of headache later, and reduce the need for any secondary sealant.

Yep if it leaks again I'll prolly do that to a junkyard manifold along with splitting and installing the center gasket....as yer sposed to loosen the intake from exhaust and torque it last in order to ensure the manifolds are perfectly aligned wif the head....that's the theory anyhoo.

But. I'd still use Spray Goo, its Wonnerful!

[bj383ss]

Great post Sharps. Always look forward to your adventures. I have been a big fan of Fel Pro forever. I love their one piece oil pan gaskets! And know you introduce this new spray goo with all colors available. Will have to grab some at O'reilly's next time I'm there.

I know how you feel on a great running engine. I just replaced the EGR valve on my 95' and it feels like I gained 50hp! What a difference. Its amazing how you get use to how an engine feels and then realize it has a problem and fix it and its like night and day from before.

Bret

[Sharps40]

Ride in this morning was illuminating. The power difference on the main is noticeable w/o vacuum leaks and running something other than fire hose rich!

I believe the liberal application of Goo, in its various forms, is efficacious in building horsepower and torque.

[61K10]

Sharps, you need some pink goo to go with your ear muffs----------

[Sharps40]

Ohhh....I like that idea. Mix it wif black max and have somma that black and pink camo my kiddies love.

[shok]

Hey if it helps I recently had to do the same kind of clean up to remove left over gasket junk. Harbor Freight sells these foam blocks with sandpaper stuck to them for wet dry sanding, it made short work of the gasket remnants when used with wd40.
For spray goo, there is also a sprayable plasti-dip, people are painting cars with the stuff!
And finally, Awesome from the dollar store, do you find the spray bottle dies before you can use the stuff up? Has happened to me with every bottle I've bought, but great cleaner.

[Sharps40]

Okay, I'll check out sanding blocks.

As for plastidippin a car or truck, methinks only a microcephalic midget halfdog-manbeast with buck teeth and a lisp would make his classic truck look like a giant matt finish rubber duckie crapped on it. That ain't for me, no way. Even if its Goo, I haveta establish boundaries of common sense and especially good taste. So, don't make a good truck stupid I think is my point. (Wonder how long it'll be afore this opinion gets edited for hurtin the feelings of a microcephalic midget halfdog-manbeast with buck teeth and a lisp about his bugly plasti dipped Bow Tie?)

Nope, two spray bottles of Awesome are now getting on 3 years old, we just buy the refills. Strong stuff, really makes nicks and cuts sting when ya start scrubbing off the grease and dirt on hands and arms. But, works great!

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice work Mr. Goo!!! LOL!

[shok]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

Okay, I'll check out sanding blocks.

As for plastidippin a car or truck, methinks only a microcephalic midget halfdog-manbeast with buck teeth and a lisp would make his classic truck look like a giant matt finish rubber duckie crapped on it. That ain't for me, no way. Even if its Goo, I haveta establish boundaries of common sense and especially good taste. So, don't make a good truck stupid I think is my point. (Wonder how long it'll be afore this opinion gets edited for hurtin the feelings of a microcephalic midget halfdog-manbeast with buck teeth and a lisp about his bugly plasti dipped Bow Tie?)

Nope, two spray bottles of Awesome are now getting on 3 years old, we just buy the refills. Strong stuff, really makes nicks and cuts sting when ya start scrubbing off the grease and dirt on hands and arms. But, works great!

Weird makes me wonder if they just ship something different to California or I just have bad luck with spray bottles. Stuff works nice on the driveway.

My opinion on plastidip has changed over time, I have no experience with the colored versions, but many times I've gotten a project with terrible paint and just so it doesnt look too bad to the neighbors I flat blacked it with primer as a temp fix. On some of those past cars might have been nice if I could have peeled it off later for the real paint work.

On my truck no plastidip but some might think I did something even worse with my flat green rattle can

[Sharps40]

Dip is tobacco and ya stick it tween yer cheek and gum.....nuff said. Plastidip is silliness and misdirected energy. Ain't no need to coat a rusty truck wif it, its still rustin from the underside anyway and ye've misguided yer energy and tossed away money better spent on good tools and parts. All that steel will keep just fine till ya repair it proper and coat it with proper paint.