I have recently put in a new camshaft, Comp cams XE262, the car runs great but I have an oil leak at the back of the motor below the distributer. I assume it is the seal between the intake manifold and block, is there anything else back there that would be leaking? I want to make sure that it is more than likely that before I start taking anything apart.
My second problem is with the gauge lights. They do not turn on when the headlights turn on anymore, making driving at night almost impossible. This was a problem before the cam swap. Where would be the best place to start? The fuse is good, but I don't know what to do next. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Aaron

 

We have a couple of things in common....I have the same cam as you and exactly the same guage light problem....I don't have the oil leak though but wonder if it's an intake manifold leak due to improper sealing after the cam switch? As for the guages, my fuse blew twice in a row. Could be a grounding problem or so I'm told, a switch problem. My switch was a little "wonky" anyway, the rheostat didn't smoothly progress the dimming, so I've ordered a new one but haven't put it in yet. If it isn't a switch problem, it's not the easiest job to find and fix the electrical gremlin. I hope, really hope, it's just the switch. I got mine at Eckler's.

 

The light switch is brand new, I though that was the problem, it wasn't.
What do you think of your rear gears, I'm running 3.08s right now. :D

 

The most common area for an oil leak in the back of the motor after you've had the intake manifold off is in the pair of "V"s created where the intake manifold meets the cylinder heads. If that is the case, the only real cure is to remove the intake and re-gasket it. Some use a dab of silicone at the "V" areas....both front and back of the manifold. Could also be the oil pressure sender, if you have an electric gauge, or the oil pressure "take off" if you have a mechanical gauge. Could also be the distributor gasket...where the distributor contacts the intake. As far as the electrical gremlins, you're on you own! Could be any of zillions of problems..wiring...switch...dimmer mechanism on the switch...short circuits...broken/unattached wires...etc. Check your AIM for a wiring diagram and start tracing with a multimeter. Chuck

 

intake is most likely, but check under the distributor and also the oil pressure line fitting at the rear of the block....both easier than removing the intake first.

 

I don't know if the electrics on a '76 are the same as an '81, but this is how I checked mine:
Check that the gauge ground is OK (drivers side?). If that is OK then pull the gauge cluster out & check for power at the appropriate wire on the harness connector, with the lights on, & check that the ground wire at the connector has continuity to ground. Conecting a test bulb between the 2 wires is a good check. If it doesn't light up then trace the power feed & ground wires back to find the fault (if the power feed is hot at the connector then the fault is in the ground side).
All my problems in this area were down to a bad connector to the printed circuit on the gauge cluster. Glue any loose copper connector tracks back onto the flexible circuit board & then carefully clean them all up with very fine wet & dry paper. Also clean the contacts on the connector itself. Use an AVO to check continuity of the tracks on the printed circuit, making sure that you also check the ground return path.
If you find no problems with the gauge cluster circuit board then pull out the speedo/tach cluster and do the same for the circuit board & connector on the back of that. I had problems with the clock cluster that turned out to be a broken track on the gauge cluster. When tracks break on those circuit boards then some weird electrical faults can occur.
I found that pulling out both clusters gave easy access to all the wiring & made the whole job a whole lot easier, as you can get to everything you need to.
Good luck
Paul

 

3.08 would be great for gas mileage, especially on the highway, but probably feels sluggish with this cam off idle. The 3.70 works well with my engine/cam because the stock L79 is sluggish up to about 3000 so you need some "jump" to get it going. The XE262 has more lift than the stock 350HP cam thus my engine also feels like it needs to be at 2500+ to really get going. 60MPH as indicated on my speedo is about 2750rpm so it isn't exactly quiet on the highway. I don't know what engine/trans you have but the XE262 would probably work better for you with higher gears if you don't mind the revs/poorer mileage on the highway.

 

Don't know if this will apply here, but the '81 has a power feed for gauge illumination from the fusebox to the gauge connector (circuit 8 - grey?) & the ground is circuit 150 (black?).

 

Any car with the tulip shaped buld holders that go into the gauge housing direct, instead of the later P Circuit twist on type,.....can have a missing bulb, allowing the center portion to short out against the metal clip and grounding itself as a result...so check for missing bulbs first...and shorted bulb housing as a result.....don't ask how I know this please.....;-(((

GENE