John S's Journal

Unseasonably hot in the valley today so not much garage time but some progress. I’m my own worst enemy sometimes. Cleaning all bolt heads up with a rotary wire brush in my drill before I reinstall them. Got the new Payen sump gasket on the freshly painted pan, installed the front and rear cork strips with some Ultra Black Permatex to help seal them up, new oil pump in after coating all parts with assembly lube, valve cover finished up with a couple coats of clear and then fitted with a new Payen cork gasket and some Permatex on the cover flange.

Also pulled the oil pressure relief valve out to have a look. One of John Twist’s videos recently showed where he added a 1/4” split washer to boost the pressure about 5#. He flattened the washer by twisting it with two sets of pliers and then dropped it in the cap and reinstalled so it was worth a shot. He mentioned that the spring should be 3” but over time it compresses so the washer increases the spring force and boosts the pressure relief point. Pretty much called it a day after that due to a hot garage. I’ll get the pan on and cinched up tomorrow and roll the engine on the stand and install the valve cover tomorrow. Other than reinstalling the front damper pulley and a couple brackets, it’s ready to come off the stand and start in with the clutch components and get ready to mate up with the newly serviced OD.