the sucker king

yup.

I thought this, but did the engine still turn when it happened? Do you mean push rod or connecting rod?

the passenger side valve cover hose went direct into the air cleaner. The driver side valve cover hose went to a t fitting and then down to the pcv valve on the top of the manifold. The port on the t fitting that could/should go to the air cleaner was capped. Although it would idealy go to the air cleaner, I have run this set up on another car and this car with the old engine, and all seemed to be fine. Let me get this straight, passenger side valve cover is taking air in, driver side pushing it out? I don't see any reason the PCV would not function properly without the line going to the air cleaner. Isn't that just to mix clean air with the blow by gas coming out of the valve cover before sending it back to intake?

I've got this stuff from other engines, I can help you out with that. PM me with a want list. have tons of stuff.

Alright, here is the story.... A couple months ago I put an ea71 w/ 63k miles in my 77 wagon. The engine had been sitting for 10 years or more. It fired right up, and after lots of miscillaneous tinkering over the next couple months, I ended up with a car that was running smooth as butter, I had a brand new out of the box weber on this low mileage engine, and every tune up item on it was new, plugs wires, oil and fuel filters. I also put an electronic disty on it to replace the points type that was on it. I had driven the new engine for 1000 miles or so by the time I got it running great, and I mean it really was running great. So on monday I headed out east to the plains of Colorado at 2:30 in the morning. It was the last day of pheasant season and the plan was that Stanley (my dog) and I were going to put on at least 500 miles skirting the Kansas border in search of birds. An hour before sunrise, over 200 miles from home, somewhere between Flagler and Burlington (the middle of nowhere), The engine seized up at speed on the highway. No noises, no warning lights, temperature gauge normal. We were dead in the water. So here's what I found when I popped the hood. First, there was oil all over the place. It seemed to be coming from under the disty. The engine was smoking, it may have been oil burning off of the case. The engine won't turn with I wrench. no oil reading on the dipstick. At this point I figured for whatever reason all the oil leaked out under the disty and the engine seized. must have a faulty oil sending unit, as I got no light, and I don't know why the temp gauge read normal, unless the oil just blew out real fast and the water didn't have time to heat up. So I open the oil filler cap, smoke comes out, and it smells awefull. I add one quart of oil and to my surprise, it brings the level on the dipstick up enough to read driveable. It had not lost as much as I thought. It was maybe 1 + 3/4 quarts from full. Anyways, the engine is still seized, it is sitting in front of my shop, and I am going to put another engine in this weekend. In trying to figure this out, I've been wondering why oil was coming out of the disty. I didn't replace the o-ring on the shaft when I did the disty swap, but for that much oil to come out of there, there must have been a lot of pressure built up inside the crankcase. I checked the PCV valve, it apears to be functional. I removed it and can blow through it when it's upright, and I can feel the thing rattling when I shake it. The top of the valve had a lot of oil on it, again I took that to mean pressure in the crankcase. I will Know more as I dig into it. I haven't dropped the oil pan or anything other than I described to you here. I want you guys to help me figure out why this happened. I am sure we will confirm it when I take it apart. Any guesses? Please discuss.

the basics are that it is a 16oo cc horizontally opposed, water cooled, pushrod 4 cylinder. You can get the factory service manual on ebay for under $20 usually and that will walk you through dismantling it and reassembling it. They are pretty simple engines. You will have the time of your life. Also gasket kits are available on ebay, which you will want if you really want the engine to run. Have fun!

That would fit right in up in Ward!

One more thing make sure the disty shaft doesn't have much wiggle.

My guess is pounts, but first Put a new fuel filter in and swap the fuel pump out too if you've got one you know is good. Hi Mick. I'm going through a similar battle with the green wagon.

I'd be in, too.

everything is pretty much different. You could make it work, but it wouldn't be fun.

I'll get you what I can. Talk to you soon.

Yeah it's there. condition unknown. You seriously willing to figure out away to get it to you? I won't have time to pull it this time, but the car will be there for a while. maybe you could get me to do it another time or bribe one of the other colorado guys.

this car should be there for another couple weeks. I'll be there friday the 20th, anyone want? moosens, make a list of them little things.

hows this for fathers day, my son Marek (whom a few of you have met) and I went to the junkyard in the AM and went fishing in the PM. good day.

i would pay 3 to 4 thousand for it. BUT the question is what is it worth, and it is worth whatever you can get for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it fetched $6,000 or more on ebay.

and might i ad that is one crazy color!

holy crap.

one other thing, you said the cap you bought is not directional, what car is this for? ea71 and ea81 cars I have dealt with the cap will only properly fit one way. A lot of caps have the cylinder #s on the top. Were you using those as a guide? If so you might try turning the cap around. Maybe it's the wrong cap? can you compare it to the old one to make sure?

here is a possibility that I have actually seen before. You say the wires were not in the positions shown in the manual. I have seen people who swapped a distributor, but didn't get it stabbed in the correct possition, not true to TDC. instead of wrestling and guessing, they advanced or retarded the disty and then switched the wires on the cap by one spot. Car ran just fine. If you don't know the history of your car (particularly the disty, was it replaced?) make sure it is set properly. You can find top dead center by pulling the #1 spark plug and turning the crankshaft with a wrench. keep a finger on the spark plug hole and you will here the air gush out on the compression stroke. you can find the timing marks on the flywheel visible through a hole on the top side of the bellhousing. I suggest this only because you commented that the wires were not where they were in the manual.

This arrived in my driveway on Thurseday, direct from Arizona. It's a '79, NO RUST WHATSOEVER!!!!! Did I mention NO FRIGGIN RUST WHAT SO FRIGGIN EVER!!!! How sweet is MY junk????

there is a stage one 77 coupe at a junkyard in CO with very bad rust but some good lenses, glass, rear bumper I think plus who knows what else. I believe there was a good passenger side door and good leather? tan rear bench seat. It was new to the yard, should be there at least a month, I will be going back, who wants anything?

Not to be argumentative, but the alignment tool doesn't have anything to do with alligning the transmision shaft splines. it mearly centers your clutch plate with the pilot bearing (while you put the pressure plate over it). When i had the problem, I had used an alignment tool. I had struggled to remount the transmission all night. Loosening the pressure plate bolts enough so that the clutch plate could rotate to accept the tranny shaft was an instant fix. As far as not being able to tighten the bolts enough through the timing hole, you absolutely need to use a torque wrench on the pressure plate bolts, but if I recall, they shouldn't be very tight. Just make sure you use the specs from the FSM to torque it down and your in bussiness.

i have centercaps that fit them pm me with an email adress if you want i'll send pics of what i have.

Here's a tip I got from other board members a while back when i could not for the life of me get the main tranny shaft mated up to the splines on the clutch plate: leave the pressure plate loose and torque it down through the timing hole AFTER the tranny and engine are mated up. I will always do clutches this way from now on. for what it's worth, i always do a clutch by dropping the tranny, I think most here say pull the engine.