How difficult is it to change a 318 Poly camshaft??

[Davea Lux]

I've had a chance to look over my work again without any fear of drying Permatex...it seems that the rubber seal for the front of the pan is too thick. I took out the side corks and even trimmed the outer ends of the rubber seal down and the cover will not go low enough...and yes I've even tried standing on the top of the timing cover to press it down and it won't compress the seal enough! I've taken a picture of the cover installed on the front of the engine (not bolted) and you can clearly see that the crank is much closer to the crank hole towards the bottom than the top...the harmonic balancer clearly will not slide in there properly....now what?...get a new gasket and sand it down so it's thinner??

J. G.

View attachment 209256

A question, did you replace the rubber seal on the front of the oil pan? If you are trying to reuse the old one it is hard as a rock and probably will not compress enough to seat the timing cover.

Dave

 

[mr. fix it]

I know that this is not the perfect way but I have eliminated the pan seal in the past to address situations like this
I cleaned the daylights out in the area and used a high quality RTV silicone sealer being careful not to simply flip it in but adding a enough to seal and not have it drip into the pan while drying
The proper way would be to drop the pan totally out and replace the entire pan gasket set and draw it back up to the timing cover using a tightening pattern to tighten it back up and torque to specs
Not everyone will agree with my poor boys suggestion but if done right will work

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Not everyone will agree with my poor boys suggestion but if done right will work

Yep that's a quick way to beat the flat rate (shortcut it) but the problem is if the RTV doesn't setup (cure) quickly and the rush to get the job out the door with a maybe clogged crankcase filter there is a good chance the PVC system may suck some of that RTV into the crankcase causing a oil leak.

Great if you can let the RTV cure overnight before starting up, but for a garage...

 

[Jay Gibbs]

Thanks Dave...No, I never reuse an old seal...on any part, ever! The new one feels almost like the hardness of urethane...it will compress, but only very slightly. Sounds like the way to go will be to remove the oil pan (as much as I was trying to avoid it) Really didn't want to remove the pitman arm and all the steering links to make room to take the pan all the way down. I've been working on this beast two months now and am a stickler for doing things the right way, so what's another week? The car is outside in the driveway so my hard deadline is the end of warm weather...

J.G.

 

[Davea Lux]

Thanks Dave...No, I never reuse an old seal...on any part, ever! The new one feels almost like the hardness of urethane...it will compress, but only very slightly. Sounds like the way to go will be to remove the oil pan (as much as I was trying to avoid it) Really didn't want to remove the pitman arm and all the steering links to make room to take the pan all the way down. I've been working on this beast two months now and am a stickler for doing things the right way, so what's another week? The car is outside in the driveway so my hard deadline is the end of warm weather...

J.G.

I would try loosening up the pan bolts on the front two thirds of the pan first. If it happens to leak you can still do the pan gasket if you have to. Most of the time they wont leak.

Dave

 

[Jay Gibbs]

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a shot. I have a pan gasket on hand if I need it.

J.G.

 

[Jay Gibbs]

Well it's official- car is done, up and running...well almost!...

Everything went back together and it started and ran well...for a couple minutes. Then I noticed the coolant welling up at the edges of the intake. Did a retorque to make sure everything was to spec, but still leaking. Fortunately it is not getting in the oil. Shut it down and regrouped. After working for 3 months I decided I'd had my fill of working in the driveway...and the weather is getting cold and raw. Solution was to ship it off to my local classic car resto/performance shop and have them finish it up. Another plus will be I'm accelerating my differential swap

and having them do it for me while it's in the shop. Out is coming the 2.93 open center section to be replaced by a sure-grip 3.55. With all my work with the new cam and 4 barrel carb, this should really wake up the performance of my 53 year old sled!