If that’s Indian Head Gasket shellac you’re thinking of Tim, I’ve still got a bottle on the shelf, haven’t used it in years but I might give it a try on a new gasket. When I was a kid in the 50’s Indian Head was as popular with the old time mechanics as Permatex was. My dad used it a lot and he was an old school mechanic from the 20’s and 30’s.
Yeah, that’s what I’m finding a lot of Chris. After I take her out and run her hard I seem to have an oil mist left on the engine. Keeps that Filling Station Dark Gray engine paint looking nice and shiny.
Read it again Roy, as I said, I don’t expect it to be totally dry. But I’m getting a bit more than I should be and can’t seem to pin it down to any one source. There shouldn’t be more than a few drops and I’m getting enough that it’s dripping out the drain hole in the flywheel cover and blowing back on the X-member and trans.
There might just be some truth to that Kurt, my 216 is a fresh rebuild with only 600 miles on her. Lots of nice clean slick places for the earl to leak out of.
Well Richard, if after a fresh rebuild, I can’t keep this one from leaking more than an old Harley, I’d better go back and review my auto mechanics 101 books.
I believe what’s going on here is something called minimalism. I’m edging more and more toward keeping the sealants down to an absolute minimum over the years. I suppose it might have something to do with not having to open the hood for 100, 000 miles on the newer cars we drive. And even then they taint leaking nor do they need their plugs serviced. The only guy that has seen the underside of my wife’s Sebring is the guy that changes the oil every 10k. For the last several decades the engines have been sealed up so tight that I haven’t had the need to glue one back together. So it looks like I’m gonna have to break down and try to reverse my minimalist way of thinking and get out the tubes of Permatex and start gluing her together if I want to minimize the drip.
Which brings up another thing that might account for my shying away from sealants lately. Just where exactly did the GM factory use sealants when they assembled the Stovebolts back in the day????? I wonder if there are any virgin engines out there that have never been apart in their 50 or 60 year span. It would really be interesting to do an autopsy on one and document what was glued to what and what was just assembled dry.
Denny G
Last edited by Denny Graham; 11/01/2011 11:29 PM.
