1959 Chevy Impala Sport Coupe project
- Thread starter '59Imp
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Also when you have the pan off inspect the bolt holes, if they have been over tightened you will need to use a hammer to straighten them back flush with the pan flange. This is a common procedure on all pans prior to assembly.Jackie, as you know, you are only asking for more trouble using the old gasket and o rings. I would suggest getting a sheet or roll of gasket paper, as close in thickness to the original gasket as you can get, and make a new gasket for the pan. Your local parts store should have an assortment of O-rings to find one that matches yours. Good luck!
'59Imp
Well Known Member
Its coming down where I will be forced to make my own gasket for the turboglide as I have been searching with all the auto parts stores here, the best thing they can come up with is a pan gasket off a 63 powerglide, and that's as far back as they say their books can go. And that is way off, no way it would work. To make it simple, they're pretty much saying that the 59 turboglide tranny is obsolete, and I cant get the right gasket for it. I don't like the idea of making my own gasket for it cause its such a tedious process as you need to make it without any flaws for it to work, but its what I'll have to do... Its quite annoying, all of this work I'm having to put into this tranny, just to make the car driveable, and I don't even plan to keep running this tranny forever, as I plan to put a 5 speed manual in later down the road.
Yes Don, that is what the turboglide gasket looks like to what I have.
Yes Don, that is what the turboglide gasket looks like to what I have.
It's a easy task to make a gasket but there are several on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/380813825141
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/380813825141
'59Imp
Well Known Member
'59Imp
Well Known Member
I took her out this previous weekend. It all went well, until tragedy struck... To start things off, I checked her out thoroughly to make sure everything was on the up and up, and everything was. And no leaks as well, finally! I was quite pleased. I had her cruising out for about an hour, stopped at the gas station, filled her up, and still no leaks, whatsoever. Still quite happy with how she was running, and decided to do some more cruising.
A short while later, at the stop sign, the oil light comes on, (idiot light), so here I'm thinking now, WTF?! I decide to take her home ASAP to see what this is all about. Didn't even get home until the lifters started clattering. Pulled over immediately and shut her off. Look underneath, and find that I have blown the rear main gasket out, and oil is streaming out from there. There's no oil registering on the dipstick. Also found out at the same time the factory gauges I was relying on are liars. I also find that she was overheating, as I have a stream of antifreeze coming from the overflow, even though the factory gauge reads at normal operating temp. Luckily, this all managed to happen by a service station. I go in and get 3 quarts of oil, enough to make the less than 1 mile trip home. The 15 bucks for the oil was better than paying the 60 bucks for the wrecker. I just barely make it home, as the oil light came on already when I pulled into the driveway. I can tell you, I did my part keeping the dust down by oiling the roads. There is now the 5 quarts of oil she already had in her, plus the 3 to make it home, all on the roads...
I know what you're thinking, "How in the hell did you manage to blow the rear main out?!" Well, I don't know exactly. I wasn't even running her that hard. Only thing I can figure is I have found out that this car was just thrown together quickly, and RTV was used everywhere for the gaskets. The oil canister was the first; fuel leaks was the second; the tranny was the third, and now this comes to be as the fourth. All evidence that it was a complete lack of care... I'm quite bummed out right about now. It comes down to pulling the motor. Before that occurs though, I will do a compression check, make sure I didn't hurt the motor when she was running low on oil. If it checks out okay, I wont rebuild it, if not she's getting a rebuild. I am already very wary of how it was put together now, being with what I've already found out... But other than the rear main seal, I already plan to put in new lifters and cam as they're most likely already shot. Will be upgrading on the cam to what's in there now, she's going to have more lope to the idle when she gets all put back together. I'm going to do a good check over on the motor when it gets pulled, as being I'm wary of how it was put together, and to make sure I didn't hurt anything. Going to also put in the 5 speed tranny at this time that I've been talking about, this just gave me a good reason to. And will be also putting in a better cooling system.
A short while later, at the stop sign, the oil light comes on, (idiot light), so here I'm thinking now, WTF?! I decide to take her home ASAP to see what this is all about. Didn't even get home until the lifters started clattering. Pulled over immediately and shut her off. Look underneath, and find that I have blown the rear main gasket out, and oil is streaming out from there. There's no oil registering on the dipstick. Also found out at the same time the factory gauges I was relying on are liars. I also find that she was overheating, as I have a stream of antifreeze coming from the overflow, even though the factory gauge reads at normal operating temp. Luckily, this all managed to happen by a service station. I go in and get 3 quarts of oil, enough to make the less than 1 mile trip home. The 15 bucks for the oil was better than paying the 60 bucks for the wrecker. I just barely make it home, as the oil light came on already when I pulled into the driveway. I can tell you, I did my part keeping the dust down by oiling the roads. There is now the 5 quarts of oil she already had in her, plus the 3 to make it home, all on the roads...
I know what you're thinking, "How in the hell did you manage to blow the rear main out?!" Well, I don't know exactly. I wasn't even running her that hard. Only thing I can figure is I have found out that this car was just thrown together quickly, and RTV was used everywhere for the gaskets. The oil canister was the first; fuel leaks was the second; the tranny was the third, and now this comes to be as the fourth. All evidence that it was a complete lack of care... I'm quite bummed out right about now. It comes down to pulling the motor. Before that occurs though, I will do a compression check, make sure I didn't hurt the motor when she was running low on oil. If it checks out okay, I wont rebuild it, if not she's getting a rebuild. I am already very wary of how it was put together now, being with what I've already found out... But other than the rear main seal, I already plan to put in new lifters and cam as they're most likely already shot. Will be upgrading on the cam to what's in there now, she's going to have more lope to the idle when she gets all put back together. I'm going to do a good check over on the motor when it gets pulled, as being I'm wary of how it was put together, and to make sure I didn't hurt anything. Going to also put in the 5 speed tranny at this time that I've been talking about, this just gave me a good reason to. And will be also putting in a better cooling system.
Sorry to hear about all your troubles Jackie
Same here.
It doesn't get more stressful than that.
Just my opinion, pull the engine out, and rebuild it. Rebuild it Right.
ALL NEW parts.
You will learn much about these engines, and when you're finished, you will have a Great running engine, and Nobody will be able, to wipe the Grin off your face.
It doesn't get more stressful than that.Just my opinion, pull the engine out, and rebuild it. Rebuild it Right. ALL NEW parts. You will learn much about these engines, and when you're finished, you will have a Great running engine, and Nobody will be able, to wipe the Grin off your face.
'59Imp
Well Known Member
What bums me out the most is when I got this car, they said it had been freshly rebuilt, and less than 500 miles on it since it was rebuilt. I'm finding out that yeah, it was rebuilt, but thrown together very sloppily. The reason to why I'm having the issues I'm having now... Its hard to believe that someone would take such lack of care when building a motor... Especially one in the case of this... The 348 W is definitely not a motor that if something bad happens to it, you cant go and pick up a replacement with a snap of your fingers, like the Chevy 350 small block for instance. And being that the motor is original to this car, even more reason to try to prevent something bad from happening to it. And when you take total lack of care when building it, something bad is bound to happen, sooner than later in this case. It all just makes me shake my head...
Even if the compression check results turn up positive, which I already have this feeling they wont, but by some miracle they do, I still think I'd be better off by just going ahead and rebuilding it completely. I just don't know what other shortcuts they took when this thing got rebuilt... This could have been a lot worse when I blew out the rear main, and I mean a LOT worse... It amazes me with how close I could have come to blowing it up... But I'd hate to find out that when I put her all back together, not rebuilding it, that I take her out next and there goes a rod through the block, all because I chose not to rebuild her when I still had the chance...
Even if the compression check results turn up positive, which I already have this feeling they wont, but by some miracle they do, I still think I'd be better off by just going ahead and rebuilding it completely. I just don't know what other shortcuts they took when this thing got rebuilt... This could have been a lot worse when I blew out the rear main, and I mean a LOT worse... It amazes me with how close I could have come to blowing it up... But I'd hate to find out that when I put her all back together, not rebuilding it, that I take her out next and there goes a rod through the block, all because I chose not to rebuild her when I still had the chance...
I'm sorry about your set backs with this car,but strongly agree with your assesments,Like you and others state,rebuild it right,to do what YOU want it to do, and you'll be able too enjoy it for years to come.Now is the time to figure out exactly the car will be asked to do,make a plan,realistic budget,and ask us any questions you feel that you need to,we're here to help.
Sorry to hear about your engine problems Jackie. As you and everyone else suggested, dis-assemble the engine and give it a good assessment. It sounds like the engine wasn't rebuilt properly if at all. May have just been a "rebuild in a can".
'59Imp
Well Known Member
I'm just still wondering how I could have blown the rear main out just like that? I mean, I wasn't even hot roddin her that much... All of a sudden, next thing I know, the rear main goes out, oil light comes on, lifters start clattering the next. Literally, it happened just like that. Makes me wonder, what exactly was used as the rear main "gasket". I have this funny feeling that I am going to find RTV in there, used as the rear main so called "gasket". I found RTV everyplace else where it should not have been used as a correct gasket, so I can only assume that the same stuff was used in the rear main... This will be interesting for sure when I tear it all apart to see what all I find, and put it back together the right way, as what should have been done in the first place. I'm more looking at this now, hey, I got a 59 Impala with a original to car 348 for a decent deal, and not so much as the motor being rebuilt, as just say for example if I got this same exact car as a barn find or such, I'd be having to rebuild the motor anyway.
Are your sure it is not the oil filter cannister ,seem's hard to believe the rear main would just blow out that quick. The cannister seal blowing out make's more sense!!! Just saying,,,,, I could be wrong!!!!
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'59Imp
Well Known Member
Thanks for trying to help, but its not the oil canister. It couldn't be, I've already converted it to the spin on type. Haven't had any leaks there since I converted it to the spin on type. I'm pretty sure, 99.9% sure, that it is coming from the rear main. I spent a good amount of time looking when the oil was pouring out underneath to make sure exactly where it was coming from. Coming from the little spot in between the rear of the oil pan and flywheel, cant be anything other than the rear main. Believe me, I couldn't believe it myself that it was the rear main at first , why I spent so much time under the car to come up with a definite answer to where the oil was coming from, its definitely the rear main. There was oil on the spin on oil filter, but after I wiped off all the oil that was flinged everywhere from driving, I saw that it was only coming from the rear main. I know, its pretty hard to believe... I've never blown out a rear main on anything before... It makes it easier to believe when you look at how this car was thrown together very sloppily. And RTV was used everywhere they could put it as a "gasket". I wont be a bit surprised to find out what remains of my rear main "gasket", that it was made of RTV. Now tell me, how easy would it be to blow out a rear main that was made of RTV...
