No Matter How Many Times You're Warned...

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

Even though I knew better than to assume anything and have been warned here
on the Digest, a funny thing happened to me this weekend that I just had to
share...

In finishing up my 392 rebuild, I bolted the oil pan in place and filled it
with 6 quarts of oil.  Last week I made a nifty tool on the lathe and mill
where I work in order to turn and prime the oil pump with a drill motor.
So I inserted this tool into the distributor mounting hole, hooked up my
air powered 3/8" drill and spun away.  Of course the pump spun freely at
first (as the oil filter needed to be filled along with the pump), but then
as the oil pressure built up, the load on the drill motor was evident.

As I was "pumping" away with full pressure for maybe 15 seconds, I thought
to myself this might be a good time to check for leaks or seeps around the
engine.  With the drill motor still flying, I leaned over to the passenger
side of the engine (I'm standing in front with the engine on a stand) and
everything looks great.  I lean over to the driver's side of the engine and
what I saw caused me to *quickly* let go of the drill motor.

What I *thought* was an unused bolt hole right near the bell housing
mounting flange (near the back of the block) was actually another
passageway to the main oil gallery!  There are *four* total plugs on the
driver's side of the engine which connect to the main oil gallery... sheez!
Anyway, a nice narrow 3 foot long stream of oil had been shooting out of
this hole, landing all over my floor, into boxes of parts, and on some of
my storage shelves.  Must have been about 2 quarts of oil total.  What a
mess!

Happily, I was able to verify I have good oil pressure up to and including
the rocker arms.  With the exception of transferring the four-barrel intake
manifold from my current 345 and putting the freshly refurbished starter
back together and bolting it to the block, the engine is finished and ready
to drop in.  That will happen this coming weekend, and if all goes as
planned I'll be driving it next week.

Speaking of engine swaps... can anyone tell me if there's enough room to
move a 345 engine forward in a Scout II (w/torque convertor still attached)
to remove it without having to take out the radiator.  Obviously the fan
would be removed.  Has anyone done this?  I've decided to leave the auto
tranny in place and would like to save the trouble of removing the radiator
if possible.

Thanks,

John L.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
jlandry AT halcyon DOT com      | 
Conservative Libertarian        |  "The road to  tyranny, we must never
Life Member of the NRA          |   forget, begins with the destruction
WA Arms Collectors              |   of the truth."
Commercial Helicopter - Inst.   |                     William J. Clinton
http://www.halcyon.com/jlandry/ |    10-15-95, speech at the Univ. of CT