76yellow

I'm finally to the point on my 2 yr resto on a 68 vert. It came with a 396 in it. As far as I can tell it appears to be rebuilt. From the timing chain, oil pump, valves & springs, seals etc all appear brand new. It runs & sounds great. I've just noticed after running it in my shop that there is oil on the floor. No gasket leaks, it's appears that it must be coming out the dip stick tube & running down. I tried 2 oil gauges & it has 80+ lbs of pressure.I'm not an engine guy but I know this can't be good. Any ideas what is wrong with this engine ?

DRIVESHAFT

Oil out the dipstick is usually caused by excessive crankcase pressure.
Do you have a functional PCV system?

hugie82

80 PSI on a cold big block is correct! High volume pump was installed and that's what they run cold. After warm up it will back down to 60 PSI cruisin and thats just fine. P.S. DO NOT REVVVV ENGINE WHEN COLD!!! 2000-2500rpm MAX. You can break the oil pump drive or blow out a seal. If your dip stick is coming out you should check the PCV set up.

76yellow

I do have a PCV valve going to the front of the carb.

weimer20

Do you have a breather on the other valve cover? Oil from the dipstick is not related to oil pressure.

DRIVESHAFT

Have you checked to make sure that there is vacuum present?
I have seen vacuum passages in the base of some carbs with enough crap in them to block the vacuum port.

DARROW

What type sending unit do you have?
If it is electric try another one, the oil out the dip stick I don't think is from oil pressure.

76yellow

Ok Weimer20, I did'nt have a breather on the valve cover. Taking the cap off solved that problem. I do have smoke coming out of the valve cover hole so this engine has issues. I just had a good mechanic look at it & I told him what I knew about the engine. It was froze up when i bought the car. After some WD 40 in the cylinder holes I gradually got it to turn all the way around. From there I got it running. He says that was not a good idea & will have to tear it down. I know very little about engine building. I can totally assemble & dis-assenble a C3 but thats where it ends. So any more input on my project will be appreciated

hugie82

If it runs OK I would run it as is. The rings may settle in and smoke less.

joshtried

engine rebuilds, from a po-boys opinion- are very easy.. knowing what parts to buy is the biggest thing. other than that, cake! just make sure the seals all go in the right way or whammo!! bolt broke off in the cam, and your back to the old used one!

mr303

Pressure alone will not cause oil to come out of the dip stick, I think you will find that the sump is over full. We had a similar problem on the board a little while ago, too much oil.

noonie

Take the pcv valve out of the valve cover while it is running and see if you get suction with your finger over the valve or hose. This will tell you if the carb baseplate is plugged. You should have quite a bit of suction.

A non functioning pcv system, depending on the amount of blowby the engine has, can puke oil out of every and any seal or gasket including blowing the dipstick right out of the tube along with a lot of oil.
Fixed this on cars many times.

Try either Marvel Mystery oil or Seafoam, follow the directions and drive the car a lot. Chances are a lot of your symtoms will clear up.

76yellow

Thanks for all your input guts. I really appreciate it, not being an engine guy like I said. The car is nowhere near ready to drive yet but I'll run it as much as I can while finishing it. I'm body work & paint this summer but don't think I'll have it done for this summers fun. Thanks again to all......