[greensmurf20]

hey fellas hows it goin? this week i changed the motor, clutch, throw out bearing and everything. well i just finished some little things up this morning because i didnt have school. i was shocked when i seen oil all over the front and drivers side of my beautiful newly painted motor! i shoulda expected it tho. the head is broke! i think it can be fixed tho. the front drivers side of the head where the valve cover bolts on is busted. the gasket surface is fine its just where the head is drilled out so the front bolt on the drivers side can thread down is cracked and the bolt is exposed. and thats causing my major oil leak. can i take JB weld and fill it in and re-drill and tap the hole? i've heard of this being done before. can anybody tell me if this is safe or is there some other way of fixing my head or am i just gonna have to tear my head off and get another one? any help would be great!!!!!

 

[Travis]

I've run a motor with the second from the front driver side valve cover bolt not installed because the head was cracked. I had no problems with leaks. As long as you have have a properly functioning PCV system you shouldn't have enough pressure to cause a leak here. Do you have your hoses in place and have you changed the filter in your valve cover?

-Travis

 

[greensmurf20]

i havent changed the valve cover filter. i just cleaned it up and threw it on. still there is a small hole and a large hole in the side of the valve cover and that should be enough ventalation to not build that kind of compression i would think. maybe its just because it is on the corner and holds down the front and half of the drivers side? just kinda frustrated with the car in genereal it fought me the whole way and took me 3 days to get it goin when i shoulda been able to do it in 1. didnt have a clutch allignment too to do the clutch. its all just goin together hard. i think i'll try the JB weld thing and if that dont work i'll take a head of one of my spare motors if i have to.

 

[Travis]

The two holes in the side of the valve cover breathe through the filter. If it's plugged, and it likely is, the holes won't be doing much. Before you go to the effort of pulling the head you should at least remove the filter and check for the leak.

-Travis

 

[greensmurf20]

nope filter aint plugged. check that out after you said something about the filter could be plugged and not letting excessive pressure excape. if you put your finger over the two holes they both blow out a little bit of air but not really forcefull or anything. my old man looked at it and said that JB weld may not hold up because the bolt is of of a little "ear" on the headhe said it would probably be best to grind the bottom of the ear off so i can nut and bolt the corner of the valve cover on. i knew i just shoulda stayed with my chevy stuff(lol just kidding) i looked at another motor i have and took the valve cover off it and the gasket surface is not much higher at all than where oil flows toward the back of the head. it dont look like it would take much pressure if any to make it leak with that bolt gone.

 

[okieopel]

sounds like it should leak.

If the head is cracked or 'broke' where you said it was then it should leak. Your going to have to fix or replace it. Sure try JB Weld first, and if that won't hold up:
replace the head.
Remember not to over torque the valve cover bolts. Probly no more that 7-10 ft lbs.

 

[greensmurf20]

ok when i go to JB weld the head should i grind the surface smooth or leave it as the porus surface. its not rusty(i think it happened when we were hauling the motors back last weekend) and if i have to take the head off does the motor have to come out? and the head bolts look funny to me(i'm a chevy guy) does that require a special tool?

 

[okieopel]

Yep, your going to need the funny spline tool. I think OGTS has them. Napa probly has them too.
You should be able to pull the head with the engine in the car.
But try the JB Weld first. Pull the valve cover and clean the crack with brake cleaner (carb clean may have lubricants in it). And apply the JBWeld to the porus crack. You my want to diaper the area so as to not get the brake cleaner inside your engine.

 

[greensmurf20]

ok i'm sure the old man has some JB weld layin around the garage somewhere. i'll try that and let you guys know how it works. a big thanks to everybody that had something to say. especially okieopel.

 

[Travis]

The crack is between the bolt hole and the outside of the motor, correct? Or does the crack continue to the inside of the motor?

-Travis

 

[greensmurf20]

correct, the head is broke between the bolt hole and the outside of the head. over half of the hole is gone and its impossable to thread a bolt into the head.

 

[Travis]

I just looked at the my cracked head and it turns out it's the same bolt. I was thinking there were two bolts in the 'L' section. My bad! So, I can now say with 100% certainty that one can run a motor without that bolt and NOT have leaks.

My money is still on a plugged filter. You may be getting some air out but that doesn't mean that you don't still have a restriction. Think of blowing through a coffee stirrer. It causes a large build up of pressure behind it, even though air is flowing.

-Travis

 

[Travis]

It just occured to me that you could remove the oil fill cover while the engine is running and you should be able to tell if it was pressurized. Give it a try!

-Travis

 

[greensmurf20]

taking the cap off the valve cover made no difference at all. its cold here today(28-30)F. as soon as the motor starts getting up to temperate the oil starts flowing. i'll try to get a pic sometime soon you everybody can see what i'm talking about. its not just a little drop every ten minutes it running steady when the motors warm.

 

[greensmurf20]

ok oil leak has dissappeared!!!!!!!***WHOO HOO* my dad ground the bottom of the ear on the head so i could nut and bolt the valve cover on. dont look the best but dont stick out realy bad either.we set the valve clearances while the valve cover was off. and the baffles inside the valve cover %100 positive they were not plugged up because the mesh baffles were not even in the valve cover. if they are not there they cant be plugged up so i grabbed a valve cover off a part car. new problem now!!!!!!!!! the motor won't idle at a constant RPM. it recs up and then you turn the idle down and it picks back up and its a never ending cycle. anyway dad stuck it to the floor and poped the clutch when he pulled it out of the barn to see if the new clutch slipped and it whistled. is that a vaccum leak or intake leak ? would that be the cause? i'll try to find a vaccum diagram and check it out. any more help would be great. most people here seem to be very knowlegeable about the GT. outside of chevy i am pretty well lost. (TRAVIS---- how much silicone did you have on your valve cover!?!?!?! musta had alot) thanks once more to everybody.