Wow, who would have thought that it was so hard to find. I'd like a nice oil dipstick for my new SBC. There are tons of pre-1980 ones out there, but I find very, very few for the later style one piece main seal block, where it enters the block right above the pan. I've bought one that turned out to be made for pre-1980 and am on the verge of cutting it down to make it work because I cant find what I want. I do not just want a plain jane one.

 

Lokar makes some nice ones, check out Jeggs

 

Picture of a Lokar on an 82. Works great.

 

Lokar seems the only choice, and they seem awfully high-priced, but I guess you get what you pay for...

 

Geo. W. Bush will be out of office in a couple of weeks...

 

If you have an aftermarket oil pan like Milodon or Moroso, those companies have dipstick sets that match the pan.........

 

I had the same problem and I'm too cheap to buy a Lokar. I bought an inexpensive chrome stick from Summit, measured it against the original, and cut the new one to length, rounded the tip, and marked the correct fill line. ( I still have the original oil pan.) Looks real good.

 

It appears thats what I am going to end up doing. I've looked everywhere. There are plenty of dipsticks out there for the early blocks, but Lokar seems to be the only people that have one for a later block and $50-80 seems a lot for a dipstick.

I've seen some labeled for 80-82 vettes, but dont understand why they specify those years only- surely those 3 years weren't different then either the late or early styles?

As it is, I have a quite nice one by spectre for an early block and it seems the only reasonable option is to cut it down to size.

I still feel like I am missing something here- surely there are companies making them for the late style blocks.

 

I got one from the Partsladi off of eBay.

 

Couldnt find partsladi, but there does seem to be quite a few there. Good tip.

Apparently the post 1980 thing is not a mystery on ebay as it seems to be everywhere else.

 

I bought the cheap one from Summit that said it was specifically for 80-82 vettes. It isn't right at all. I should get a pic of it. Now I'm looking for other options as well.

 

Thats exactly what I was afrid of.

This is what I am going to get:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FLEXI...QQcmdZViewItem


and this too from the same seller:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...3273QQtcZphoto

 

Be sure to post when you have the dipstick. I'm sure there are several of us that would like to know how that works out. It sure looks like it would do the trick.

 

Will do. Should be here in a couple of days.

I dont know why the big merhcants dont have this market covered. I rarely buy just one item from anyplace. They lost more than just the sale of a dipstick.

 

 

Russell Performance makes them, in different anodized colors. Or at least they used to.
http://www.hotrodexpress.com/index.p...t_detail&p=154
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/S...1&sku=dipstick

 

Recived my dipstick and installed it. It is a very good fit. Slightly loose where it enters the block but I added a 0-ring and a little #2 permatex, although the pan area is not normally pressurized (I expect higher then normal crankcase pressure due to increased blow-by from the high effective CR from using a blower, but OTOH I went with gapless rings, so perhaps this will eliminate this).

It looks quite nice. The mounting tab can be swiveled either way to pick up a header bolt on the fore or aft sides. I choose fore to leave uncoverd the temp switch hole in the head which I am using for my electric fan switch. It is the large style temp switch so is quite close to the dipstick tube, but it does not touch. Reccomend you install the temp switch first if your heads use the large one. If you have the smaller one, you will have plenty of clearance. Not sure how this would work with stock exhaust manifold, but if you are running them and want, post a pic and I will try to examine it and give you my opinion. The lower portion of the dipsitcj tube actuually threads into the braided part so you could probably buy yourrself a little wiggle room here if you needed. The dipstick tube itself is ever so slightly too long and this results in a nice bend in the flexible portion, which results in the dipstick handle being more parallel to the ground then the block, which actually looks quite proper. No fancy photo for you as the engine is in the car so you cant really see much except the top of it, but if any one is dying for a pic, Ill go out and shoot one. I am not entirely convinced it's reading the level correctly, but that is my issue since I am running a Kevko deep sump pan, and probably will be right on with a stock pan. I reccomend this dipstick for anyone in the position I was in, especially for the price! The valve covers showed up too and also are as advertised and look quite nice in mock up stage. Both parts were definately worth the money and were shipped UPS in a timely manner. I would definatly use this seller again. Probably sooner then I think. I notice they have 14 in air cleaners that match my new valve covers for a reasonable price and I will probably throw in a new tranny pan as my old chrome one is starting to show some rust.

The big vendors are definely missing the boat here, including the quite reasonable price on the valve covers, which are symmetrical to allow mounting in either orientation leaving me free to place my PCV valve at either end of the engine and which by the way, clear 1.6 RRs with no problem.

PM/Email me if you have ? on either item.

 

I pc'd my original dipstick. I can't find a damn pic of it but I did the trans dipstick exactly the same...

 

I didnt have an "original dipstick" for a new style block to PC or do anything else with. Stock motor had old style bock w/ old stlye dipstick. Replacement motor was new style block and so required new style dispstick. That was the root of the problem.

 

Ahhh... Glad to see you found one but why did your new engine not come with one?