I put a junkyard 350 in my 87 camaro and whenever I start it it leaks oil on the ball of a quart every ten minutes at 1000 rpm. I cant exactly tell where all its coming from, definitly the front of the engine a little (timing cover or front main?) seems to be dripping from the starter badly (pass valve cover?) and the bellhousing almost as badly since my T5 doesnt have a dust plate (rear main?).

Would it be a good idea to drop trans and oil pan and replace both seals, rtv the intake manifold, replace timing cover/gasket and get my broken valve cover bolts pulled out (the truck i pulled it from, had only 1 bolt holding each valve cover on, so thats how it still is) then see where it is or should I forget about this engine and sell it to afford to build up my 400 block then swap that in, fresh as a daisy?

 

Only one bolt holding each valve cover on??? I'd start by fixing that first. You could cure 90% of your oil leakage with that. Replacing all the gaskets you mentioned isn't that expensive in regards to parts, but its definitely very labor intensive, especially the rear main seal. If you can live with a small oil leak then I would just replace the front main seal, timing chain cover and valve cover gaskets.

 

No problem with labour, its not even road ready yet however I have an asphalt driveway so if i drive it out of my garage it will leave big ugly stains. Can main seals be replaced with engine still in car?

 

Well fixed the valve covers.

Its definitly leaking somewhere alone the front left and front right of the engine more heavily on the driver side and from the bellhousing.

Guess ill pull the trans and pull all the accessories off and replace all the seals.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...t=#post3694337

post #2 has good picture of major source of leaks.

jms