Thread: Total new guy question about intake swap

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I have a 327 in a 57 Bel Air (bought it like that). I decided to buy a new carb, and intake for it. I took off the original intake maifold which had a spout in the front by the water neck. I soon realized that the new edelbrok manifold didn't have a hole for the original spout.

My question is what I am to do about it? someone told me that I just need to buy new valve covers with an oil breather, and that it did not matter where I put new oil in from since it would still go into the galley (?). Now if this is true, what do i do about the hole that the spout led to from the manifold. I am talking about the hole in the galley underneath the manifold where you can see the rods. It seems to me that the oil poured into the original spout would go somewhere other than the galley due to that hole. Like somewhere below where the rods are vivsible.

I am totaly new to working on cars, but I want to learn and I am planning to take some classes. I thought I could do this on
my own, but i was totally wrong. I need some help from the experienced guys.

Please let me know if I need to put some pics, since I know I am only describing as best as I can. Also, please let me know of any other things i need to know since this is my first time swaping a carb and manifold.

Thanks so much

not rocket science, if i can do it!!
my 29 350 has an "hole" in the front of the intake for putting the oil in,.. my othrr intake did not!, it's o.k. to have an oil filler on you're valve cover, a set of aftermarket valve covers will have these.
keep all you're old parts incase you want to put baby back to origional.
an shop manual that goes up to 1984 or so will give you a pretty good idea of how to do the swap.
you'll need a torque wrench and a good set of gaskets,
take you're time... make sure gasket surfaces are clean!!
you will have to pull the dist , the manual will tell you how,just be sure to set the timing @ 0 on compression stroke and look where the dist rotor is pointing ie # 1 cyclinder
work a step at a time ,keep everything clean!

One thing way too many people over look when swapping intake manifolds is the relationship to the intake ports in the heads and intake runners on the intake.

You may want to do a little work and investigate the port size and configuration (I'm not a chebbie guy they may all be the same for the SBC) if they are mismatched you are losing power. You can either match port the new manifold or find one that already matches.

The oil filler tube is no big deal, do as already suggested here. Indeed anything you pour into your engine, whether it is in the valve cover or galley will drain to the oil pan where the rods are, so take care not to drop any foreign material, water gasket material through the passages in the galley / valley pan area.

It is a common / popular thing to remove the oil filler tubes on old manifolds to make them look more contemporary taking the tube out and replacing it with a freeze plug.

thanks, guys. I really appreciate the info. I kinda jumped ahead and took the distibutor off before checking the timing and all, so what do I need to do about that?

Hey 1cobra1, I just want to make sure that when you said "replacing it with a freeze plug"... Is a freeze plug something I need to buy or is that a term. Just to clarify, I bought a brand new edelbrok manifold, specifically for a chevy SB

When you are working on an engine as old as the 327 (last made in about 1968), you have no idea who owned it before and what modifications they made to the engine. One of the problems that can arise from changing manifolds is that when you get the engine back together, you could have a vacuum leak. This can occur as easily as unknowingly letting one of the gaskets slip as you are installing the manifold or it could be as hard to find as a set of heads that were milled by a machine shop many years ago and now won't line up exactly with your brand new manifold. Maybe the heads had been milled and the old manifold had been milled to match the heads, you see, you just never know what has been done to the engine in the past. I'm telling you all this because you need to be aware that problems can arise and you wouldn't know anything about it if I didn't tell you. If you get the engine back together with a vacuum leak, no amount of adjusting or tampering with it will fix it. You just have to tear the motor back apart and fix it properly. Here's a paper I wrote on this subject. I think you should read this thoroughly and understand it thoroughly before you ever lift another wrench.
http://streetmachinesoftablerock.com...opic.php?t=350

Freeze plugs are those round cup-shaped things that are about 1 1/2/ t0 2" in diameter that are on the sides of your engine block, right above the oil pan. They are used in the manufacturing casting process, but are commonly called freeze plugs because in the northern climes they pop out if the water freezes in the engine.

You won't need to worry about these on your intake, There is no hole there to fill, just on the early engines.

As for resetting the timing, get a engine manual for your engine, and there will be a diagram showing a downward view of your engine. It will show you which cylinder is # 1. (On a Chevy V8, it is the drivers side front sparkplug. Remove the plug and put your finger over the hole while someone taps the starter. When you feel your finger starting to get pushed off by the air from the upcoming piston, look at your crank damper. There will be a timing tab on the block and a series of lines on the damper. Turn the crank with either a socket and breaker bar or tap the starter easily, until the zero line aligns with the pointer. You are now at Top Dead Center, and in this position you want your distributor rotor to be pointing at the contact for the number one wire. Drop the distributor back down into the hole, until it seats, and make sure it is still pointing at # 1. If it is, put the cap back on, and you are timed enough to fire the engine. You can time it with a light to get the right amount of advance.

I know we have discusssed this before on this forum, but for someone doing it for the first few times it is confusing.

You are going to have to add valve covers that have an oil fill cap on them, as you have eliminated the one on the intake.

In case it was overlooked, The hole in the old manifold leads to a big open area that is the lifter galley. Like pouring oil in your roof vent of your house , the attic is the liftergalley. The oil needs to be in the basement and would get there eventually, just like your sbc. The heads drain their oil into this area. All the 60-70s sbc use the same v/c except the early 265 ppacks.

Tech is right. I have a 77 LTD 302 and am having a few problems that I cannot figure out. One is that my drivers side valve cover is FILLING up with white foamy milky moisture. The PCV valve goes into it and is doing it. I have vacuume comming out and tried changing pcvs but don't work. I have a LITTLE bit of water in my oil on the dipstick but not much and am not really loosing water... Not much anyways because I can't see the level dropping. I changed my manifold and all and after I did this I am having all these problems. Tech, you just gave me an idea and you may be right, there is definetely something wrong with my manifold or something.... I have been working on it like crazy and am sick and tired of messing with it and tearing it all down and buying 5 pairs of Fel Pro gaskets.
Take Tech's advice very seriously or else you will end up with something that is a total pain in the ass like I am dealing with. I still cannot figure out my problem.

If you have anything milky in your oil you need to find the cause and fix it. It only takes a tiny bit of water to destroy your engine, only a few table spoons in the pan will ruin your day.

If you have replaced the manifold gaskets (the most common cause) and found no sign of leakage and have no excessive signs of water usage (like a cracked head or head gasket) you may have a crack in the intake.

Cracks in aluminum are hard to see and often are not cracks at all but casting porosity in which water will migrate through what seems to be solid metal. Other common failures are cracks in the water passage that connects the heads. The crack can be small and actually open and close depending on engine temperature.

Use a dye penetrant to disclose the leak. Run the dye for a few hours or a day or two and take the manifold off. The dye will have fillowed the leak. It will be obvious.

Thanks, I will try that out. Not trying to take over the thread here sorry. I may just find me a 351W for now because really I am tired of working on this 302. I have put heaps of money into it and as soon as it is fixed it just keeps breaking. And no I don't mean that it works and then breaks like a lot of old vehicles do, this one just has a ton of small problems that I can't deal with anymore and plus I have NO CLUE what has been done to this thing since when I bought it the guy I got it from didn't know either, he got it from a friend that built it.... Kind of confusing.

no worries here FMX, Im just thankful that there is so much knowledge on this forum. I think I have enough info to go at my prob again, so thanks all. Ill be back if i have anymore issues.