Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Big Valley

Today was all about getting the oil leak fixed. Picked up valley pan and intake gaskets from Allan yesterday, so I was ready to go today. Of course, it took most of my time getting the dirt and grime away from the bolt heads so I could get the manifold off. Yowza, there was a lot of stuff in there.

Once the manifold was off, time to take off the valley pan. Some of the bolts were so loose, I probably could have turned them by hand. No wonder it was leaking. The gasket was dry and cracked too. Once off, I scraped off a few pounds of grime and then hit them both with the steam cleaner. Still more to do before I give them a coat of paint and reinstall, but progress.

I think that I'll change out all the vacuum and heater hoses while I have it halfway apart. Might not be a bad time to install the Pertronix, too.

If you look closely, you will notice that one of the valve covers has been painted not too long ago and the other not.

2 comments:

cromulent said...

For cleaning the intake and valve covers I highly recommend oven cleaner. It takes off grease AND paint! I know where there's a dollar store that has $1 cans of it too. :)

Evil Mr. Clean said...

Nice idea. I left it soaking in engine degreaser after hittign it with the steam cleaner. It's about ready for another hit of cleaner, so perhaps I'll try the oven cleaner.