Downesrick

ok CF FORUM,
I think I bought a lemon 🍋 but want your advice as to how to make lemonade! Hopefully some remember the sweet original 68 convertible that was posted, well after interior restoration, I am now doing a hardtop restoration. However I keep seeing oil on my floor, coming from the starter area. After wiping and checking I chose to replace the original pa gasket.
I did and when I pulled the pan...holy crap what is this white silver muddy sludge on the bottom? AND MY GOD WHY IS THERE SO MUCH METAL SHAVINGS IN HERE??
The silver crap wouldn't wipe out, it is so thick it just smears...however I did rinse and clean the entire pan except for sludge, and replaced with one piece gasket (really hard to get pan to get flush?), and I also replaced the drain plug and gasket. Changed filter and wiped everything clean.
Put back together, ran it with no leaks, and drove around 5-8 miles. Parked it and the next morning there was oil in the same place...are you kidding me!
CF NATION...how bad am I screwed?
i want to rebuild this into an L79 350 HP motor if that's possible? I want to try to keep as original or stock as possible...I NEED YOU HELP AND ADVICE!
I do not want a monster or something that will take away from the #'s matching original qualities this car has...ok last thing, can it wait till fall if I'm careful?

cv67

If youre thinking about a rebuild anyway and have good oil pressure just run it. Sludge could have been there for a long time every motor will get a little even new ones

Haggisbash

Oh dear it doesn't look promising, maybe you should have pulled a couple of the main and big end bearing caps and had a look at the bearings while you had the pan off? A picture of the sludge and shavings would have been helpful, shavings and white sludge suggest to me that either the main bearings or big ends are on their way out, fine glitter in the oil would point to the cam and lifters failing, you could pull the oil filter and break it open to see what is deposited there rather than pulling the pan again initially.
Thinking about the oil leak, near the starter you have the pan gasket, above it you have the head gasket and rocker cover are you sure the pan gasket was the culprit given that the leak is still there? Outside possibilities would be the oil feed to the pressure gauge leaking and oil running down beside the bell housing or the rear seal of the inlet manifold doing the same thing.
I would be more concerned about the metal shavings at this point, is the engine making any terminal knocking or tapping noises?

Easy Mike

Who can say? We didn't see what you saw. Are you certain you had metal in the sludge?

Downesrick

ok, so the sludge was more silver than white and I checked the gauge line first and cover gaskets...might be main or manifold now that it isn't the pan. The shavings were fine and lots. I wonder if the place I bought it or previous owner used some sort of quiet engine stuff so he could sell it??
I just bought it in August so anything is possible! Rebuild is the key I guess.
Thanks everyone!

Alan 71

Hi Dr,
I looked back at your posts and remembered the car when I saw it.
It's a beauty!!!!
My only advise is to be very careful how you proceed so your money is well spent and the outcome is what you and this car deserve.
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

Might you have ANY recourse with the person you bought it from?

CV62Air

I misdiagnosed a rear main seal leak that turned out to be from the rear of passenger side valve cover leaking once. wasted a lot of time, but got complete peace of mind when I saw how nice the bottom end looked.

Sorry your getting metal, though. Maybe it was just some sort of stop-leak junk that the previous owner used to mask the oil leak. Some of those products have soft metals in them to try to plug up leaks.

Good luck.

terry82

I would find out where the oil is coming from.you may not have found and fixed the only leak . if the motor runs good just drive it.

Zip Corvettes

Well, don't be too alarmed by a little leaking it is a sbc. I don't think you can ever have one that doesn't leak something. How is the oil pressure? Go ahead and drain your new oil and look at it, also cut the oil filter open and look at it. If the oil looks clean and there is nothing in the filter I would not worry too much about it at this point. I would change oil early and keep an eye on it. If it is there it is time to pull the motor and go ahead and rebuild.

hope2

Maybe car had a head gasket leak and they stuffed it with quick fix sealer. Maybe that didn't fix it and they replaced the head gaskets. Maybe there is nothing wrong with engine.
That's three maybe's, not impossible.

suprspooky

Like the other responses, I would worry too much yet. (no noises or low oil pressure?)

You could also use a flushing chemical (Amsoil brand maybe?) then do a couple hundred miles on fresh oil/filter and send it out for analysis.

My 68 427 had lots of pan sludge and silvery glitter, but reasonable oil pressure. I'm sure a rebuild is due for me soon, but it runs pretty strong in the meantime.

Gale Banks 80'

Looking in the Pan lets you see what has accumulated since the last time the pan was off. Looking in the Filter lets You see what has happened since the last oil change.

EddeStack70

I autocross a lot, I've spun so many main bearing burning oil and running to hard like an idiot. Can't tell you how many times I've drained oil and it looked like I was mining for silver. But it is what it is



QUOTE=Gale Banks 80';1594376028]Looking in the Pan lets you see what has accumulated since the last time the pan was off. Looking in the Filter lets You see what has happened since the last oil change.[/QUOTE]

sunflower 1972

This is my magnetic oil drain plug after I did an oil change on my 72
L48 after 2000 miles. Has 90,000 original miles. The engine runs great, has good oil pressure and doesn't make any kind of funny noises. As long as you have good oil pressure and no funny noises, cold or warm, I wouldn't be too concerned either.

OldCarBum

If there is sludge in the pan it is probably built up under the valve covers as well. Back in the day Pennzoil was notorious for sludge build up that was a silvery color. Could be that the prior owners were not diligent in changing the oil or used a product that allowed sludge to build up. As suggested earlier, remove and cut open your oil filter. Try to locate your oil leak, 70's Chevy engines seemed to always leak at the valve cover gaskets partly because people over torque the bolts and distort the stamped thin metal covers. If it runs good keep driving it until your ready to rebuild. My '73 BB had several oil and power steering leaks when I bought it. I've traced and repaired most of them so I can drive it until I pull it apart next year.

Scottd

The one piece oil pan seals are great, but you really need to torque them down. To hell with suggested torque specs, those numbers are for cork gaskets. I suggest you check your oil pan again making sure everything is good and snug. Theres no shame there, Ive made the same mistake.

CV62Air

Good point about the Pennzoil, I read about that elsewhere as well. I think that Quaker State also had similar issues, I believe it was due to high parafin content? Made it more prone to sludge and gunk up, especially if neglected!!

7T1vette

The one-piece oil pan gaskets are great. But proper bolt torque IS important. The torque to apply is what the PAN GASKET manufacturer states that it should be. BUT, the sealing rail on the oil pan must be flat to the mating surface and there should be no 'dimpled' areas around the bolt holes. Those distortions on a pan rail will definitely cause leakage; and those distortions were due to excessive bolt torque.

You can't get a gasket to "seal better" by increasing bolt torque--unless the bolts are under-torqued to start. And you can only make a pan gasket to leak more by exceeding required bolt torques.

Most folks think "tighter is better". But that is really not the case when you are trying to get a joint to seal.

Downesrick

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!
Your responses have made me feel a ton better and here is what I know after reading everyone's responses...the car sat for almost 2 years and when I changed the oil it was black...so sludge was probably the pennzoil issue or a stop leak issue. I will most definitely check the torque on the pan and even though it was a bitch to install due to the one piece it is possible that after hearing it up it still needs more or maybe less. Finally I will replace the valve cover gaskets and do a quick head check for safe keeping, since I'm running 30-35 psi oil pressure and it runs healthy, I'm going to run it and check oil and filter in another couple hundred miles and check oil and filter.
I love the quote..."the pan shows what's happened since the last opening, where the filter shows since the last change...great advice! This engine was never opened...still had the same cork gaskets. So what I saw was 43,500 miles worth of breaking in and everything else.
I know one thing for sure...i know where I'm going when I go to rebuild the motor!
THANK YOU AGAIN...invaluable information and advice!

Woody33

You can go to any airplane on line supply house and buy a oil filter cutter tool - it is like a can opener

In the airplane world we cut open the oil filter at every oil change and "unwrap" the filter element to inspect what was filtered out - if you think you see metal you check with a magnetic - it would be interesting to see what you find