I'm getting to the stage of my 1957 235 rebuild where it's almost ready to be started. Once the next shipment of parts comes in, it would have been ready.
Before I start it, I wanted to wear it in and free it up just a bit, so I connected the drive shaft and filled it with oil for the first time since I reassembled it. The plan was to put it in 2nd or 3rd gear and pull it with a tractor because the engine is really tight and is almost impossible to turn over by hand. Unfortunately, oil began leaking from the timing cover when I primed the oil pump so I never got to that stage. So I removed the fan, removed the harmonic, and pulled the cover. Turns out, I had stupidly used Indian Head Shellac instead of some high quality Permatex / silicone and it was pretty thin. Cleaned it up, put some high quality RTV silicone on the gasket and resealed. Added another quart of oil and slept on it.
Woke up this morning and oil is leaking from 'behind' the timing cover plate now. Does this pretty much mean I have to pull the whole engine, remove the crank, the cam and start from scratch? Pretty disappointed in the outcome but I'm at a bit of a loss.
Also on a side note: is it ok to hook up the clutch pedal linkage, put it in 2nd or 3rd and pull the chassis with a tractor? My thinking was that this would lube the engine a bit and get everything freed up before I move on to firing it.
True newbie here, self taught only, so I apologize if these are dumb questions.
