Dave, its difficult to tell from the pic, but it looks like with all the positive pressure inside the engine, the valve cover gasket or dist. seal has been blown. While not doing any harm, it will continue to make a mess in there. Perhaps I am wrong..maybe the PO was just sloppy , pouring auto trans fluid everywhere.

 

there is oil coming from where the dist goes into intake manifold and there has also been oil leaking from the rocker cover gasket(which ive fixed), is there a seal for the dist shaft?

cheers

dave

 

Yup. It's basically just a ring of gasket paper. Your best bet would probably be to go to your friendly local US auto parts store and get a full gasket set for a 350 chevy. (Can't recommend anybody up your way I'm afraid!) That'll have all the seals you're likely to need, including the dizzy shaft.
When putting it on, I found it worked best if you stick the gasket to the dizzy flange with some RTV, but leave it dry where it rides on the inlet manifold surface. It'll still seal fine, but it allows you to come back at any time afterwards and adjust the timing without breaking any glue seal.

 

Dave, there is probably a thin paper,piece of crap, gasket that goes there. I really wouldnt worry about it till you decide to rebuild. Some dist. have a rubber o-ring but thinking yours doesnt. Its just not worth the effort for only a dist. gasket R&R . If you just decide to change manifolds, you will get the gasket in the kit.

 

Neil has a good idea./point

 

I'm not really very worldly, what is a zorst???

Seriously, don't condemn your rings yet.
If you have the oem air cleaner, go back to the oem pcv system intake tube. It will keep oil off your engine if you have excessive blowby and help prevent condensed oil from covering your valve cover. A baffle should be in both valve covers.
See the pic below, it should be connected to a small filter in the air cleaner housing.



Secondly, connect your vacuum for the auto tranny to where you have the pcv now connected and connect the pcv valve to the proper port on the front of the carb throttle plate.
You now have it on a couple rear runners, whereas in the stock location you are sharing the complete plenum of all the runners. There reasons why ALL manufacturers do that for all engines.
You may want to remove your carb and make sure the pcv ports on the throttle plate are not obstructed by carbon etc. This is very common. See pic below.
Your pcv valve works best at full manifold vacuum at idle, but as long as you have acceptable blowby (all engines have blowby), there is still a small venturi action helping the pcv at all rpms.
You can also install a pcv valve from a 454 to help a little.



After all this you may find you have no problems, worth a shot.



I just use a thin oring on all distributers and it works well. Downside is to reinstall dist and retime ignition.

 

thanks for info, I will try changing the piping around, also there is a baffle missing from the silver vent thing.

cheers

dave

 

Noonie..great post! Wish I could do that picture stuff.
One has to remember that our English/UK corvette brothers use a bit of slang thats diferent than our, here in the USA. zorst= exhaust. having an Austrailan Wife,I am sometimes left scratching my head over the message I just heard. chuckle.
You have to watch these Pommie Blokes, lift the bonnet,grab the tourch that cost a few quid, and see why troubles surface on the round a bout,then go have a few buttered crumpets or some squashy peas with your yorkshire pudding,drowned out with
Landcashire Bomber beer..my favorite. Cheers mate

 

Dave,I am going to be mailing some "patches" (vietnam/army) to my friends in NW England next week, if you cant find a gasket for that dist.,I will be happy to include one in their package. Simon Johnson, a cameraman for BBC (Manchester), runs a 1942 Army jeep. He is my bud.
I am sure he would post the gasket to you. In fact,I think he took this picture in my avatar.

 

thanks for the offer, its not pouring out , so I will leave it for now.

cheers

dave

 

Ive tryed your piping routes, with success!, no more smoke, problem solved!, no engine rebuild afterall!

cheers

dave

 

Glad to hear it.
I bet you're relieved.

A lot of guys put on the fancy aftermarket breathers etc, and in a lot of cases ruin the functionality of the pcv system. It is greatly misunderstood.
The GM engineers really did know their ****.


Just use a thin oring for the dist when ready. Works much better anyway.

 

yeah, I'm relieved big time!!, thanks for your help, and everyone who contributed on this thread.

cheers

dave