BBC guys....a ?

[RatMalibu]

What pan gasket are you using and why? I've pulled the engine out of my car for the second time for an oil leak and found that the one piece fel-pro gasket I'm using is coming apart....more so at the corners of the front and rear "saddles" (for lack of a better term, but it's the corners where the front/rear main seals meet the pan rails)
after the first time I thought it was a fluke and used a new one of the same gasket. This isn't the main source of the leak btw.....I'm re-ringing it with zero gaps in a effort to remove crank case pressure ](*,) could said pressure be chewing up the gasket?

scratching my head here :-k

 

[Bman]

I have had to work on the pan corners and timing cover with a hammer and grinder once or twice. The sharp edges kill the one piece gasket.

 

[bracketchev1221]

I usually put silicone in the corners of the gasket when I use them. I am not really concerned about them being reusable. As far as re- ringing it with zero gaps, that is not the solution to blowby. Proper hone with a torque plate and good ring seal is the solution. Your end gaps aren't causing it.

 

[RatMalibu]

I siliconed the corners as well but it still breaks the gasket up into pieces. I'm not really worried about the re-usability of it I just want to get rid of the leaks. As far as your other comment bracketchev I had the engine machine work done back in 2003 and put the engine together...it was bored 0.030 over and torque plate honed then. It has >1000 miles on it since (street car, don't ask) the machine work was done by a well known (in my area) machinist who does a lot of BBC's for mud/pull trucks. I didn't have the time to gap the rings and since I was buying them from him he did it. He asked if I planned on using No2 and I said maybe. When I picked everything up from him he informed me that he had gaped the speed pro ring set to be safe for a 250hp shot of No2. I decided after the first good drive there would be no need for No2 on the car while it was on the street so it never had any. The leaks and such have gotten progressively worse. I never noticed it smoking from the exhaust while it ran but from the oily carbon on the piston faces I'd say it was burning some as well

So I know that a ring set won't cure blowby by themselves but I'm fairly certain that the speed pro's aren't keeping the oil out of the chamber and the cylinder pressure out of the engine.....I had planned on a set of zero gaps when it was first put together and was talked out of them, now I'll fix it.

 

[prairiehotrodder]

I had a leaking rear main seal which i replaced once then it still leaked so i installed a pcv valve and the leak is gone. Everyone told me not to run a pcv valve and just run breathers but the pcv valve fixed the problem. I now run one breather on the passenger side of the motor connected to a moroso breather canister and the pcv hooked to the carb on the drivers side. Works like a charm on my 489 BBC
brian

 

[RatMalibu]

running a breather on one vc and pcv on the other.....when it idles you can watch vapor come out of the breather lol

 

[Redline396]

hey dude ,sorry to hear about your oil leaks......bman is spot on.....some times you have to do some massaging...lol...to the oil pan and timing cover and a dab of rtv black in the corners ........as far as blow by issues.....i have not had any problems and i used speed pro plasma moly file fit rings.....and instead of a pvc valve,i made a vacume pump out of a smog pump.....works great......no pressure issues in my crank case,no leaks,clean intake track,and gives vac. through out the rpm range at wot.........pump can make 26 hg at 2500 rpm and just keeps pumping til i shift at 6500.......easy to make ...i.e CHEAP...LOL...86 buick smog pump off of a 3.8 ltr,air /oil seperator,catch can with breather,vac. relieve valve and some hose.....oh and the pump was used.....cost me 15 bucks......so for under three hundred bucks you can get the benifits of a vac. pump...........and i know people are going to say.....you need to build a engine specific for a vac. pump to benifit you.......well maybe if your looking to make more power from the low tension rings.....however alot of guy's are seeing proven 20 to 25 hp gains with nothing special done to their engines other than a vac. pump.......and considering no crank case pressure related oil leaks, a clean intake track and steady vacume ....it's worth it to me.......just my two cents plus worth......lol.....good luck with your build............ken

 

[malijuice]

permetex ultra gray silicone no gasket needed