It's been a while...

[David Conwill]

With school, kids, buying a house, family, Dad dying, and another old car all coming along since I was last here, I haven’t had a lot of time to talk Camaros with you guys.

I’ve been driving mine a lot in the last few days, and working on her even more in the past week.

dog dish camaro.jpg

I threw on some new wheels and tires, along with a set of hubcaps that I bought back in college. Friday I attended Cruz’In White Lake in Whitehall/Montague, and Saturday my wife and I had the car in Ferndale and took a quick jaunt up Woodward Avenue before heading home.

Anyway, I hope to be seen more around here. Hopefully you guys can help me figure out why I’m oiling down no. 5 spark plug and using oil on a relatively low mileage engine.

Regards,

Dave

[masterfab]

With school, kids, buying a house, family, Dad dying, and another old car all coming along since I was last here, I haven’t had a lot of time to talk Camaros with you guys.

I’ve been driving mine a lot in the last few days, and working on her even more in the past week.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]36934[/ATTACH]

I threw on some new wheels and tires, along with a set of hubcaps that I bought back in college. Friday I attended Cruz’In White Lake in Whitehall/Montague, and Saturday my wife and I had the car in Ferndale and took a quick jaunt up Woodward Avenue before heading home.

Anyway, I hope to be seen more around here. Hopefully you guys can help me figure out why I’m oiling down no. 5 spark plug and using oil on a relatively low mileage engine.

Regards,

Dave

sound like a bad valce guide or valve seal. hopefully they where install right.

[MP81]

Welcome back!

And I agree - bad valve seal or guide.

[David Conwill]

I will check out the valve seals. I also notice that I don't really have a great crank-case ventilation system: just a breather on each valve cover. One breather happens to be directly over the plug that is fouling. Anyone think switching to a factory-type PCV valve would help this?

-Dave

[1999Black_Z28]

It might help with the oil consumption but I'm guessing you still have a seal issue if only the #5 plug is getting oiled...

[David Conwill]

Alright. Thanks. I'll probably check out the o-ring at the same time I start retrofitting a PCV setup. I'm thinking about swapping to a set of finned, cast aluminum, Ansen-type valve covers at the same time. My dad put big mesh breathers on my chrome valve covers and they get oil mist all over.

I was going to install Corvette-script valve covers, but I don't want to have to punch holes in them. I'll save them for another project instead.

-Dave

[StoveBolts]

Hi Dave, nice to meet you!

For sure put your pvc valve back in there! It will help exit the crank case fumes and also balance out the pressure in the crank case which can cause oil to make it's way up the dipstick and make a miss... This also means that it can blow past your rings as well...

In Short, if I were a betting man, and I"m not, but if I were I'd say not having a pcv valve isn't helping your oil consumption issue. Is it causing #5 to foul? Only if you have a problem with the rings on that piston. At the least, it may be contributing.

Also, what engine do you have? I know some of the older 327's and 307's had that odd looking port next to the distributor and hooked into your air breather. Does your car have that too?

[David Conwill]

Hey Stovebolts, nice to meet you as well. We’re practically neighbors.

I have a 327 in my Camaro, originally a 210 horse (2bbl), but rebuilt in 2001 or 2002 with the 350 horse L79 Novas as inspiration. The car never had stock valve covers on it, having come with Edelbrocks, and I don’t recall seeing a factory breather setup on it before we started messing with it.

My research indicates that by 1968 the 327 was vented through the valve covers - intake on one side, PCV on the other, both of them routed to the air cleaner. Earlier engines still used the oil fill tube as the PCV location and vented fresh air into the crankcase via the old boss for the road draft tube, which sounds like what you’re describing. Supposedly that boss had been eliminated by the time the 1968 327 blocks were cast, having lingered on with a freeze plug stuffed in there for a while.

As you know, though, that’s a tight area to inspect with the engine in place, so I’ve not been able to confirm whether mine lacks that spot for sure.

-Dave

[StoveBolts]

Hi David,
Wow, yes we are almost neighbors for sure! Caro is a nice town.

Glad you were able to do some research, I didn't know when they eliminated the draft tube back there, but I do remember my air filter seeping oil all the time lol! (I had a 66 El Camino with a 307 transplant when I was a teen).

Found this picture online for anyone who doesn't know what were talking about. But it should be pretty easy to spot next to the distributor. And yeah, I know this guy doesn't have it routed correctly. Imagine all that oil dumping right into the intake... talking about running rich or fouling plugs if you've got any blow by!

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