i have a conundrum for the highest bidder

first heres the things i have done so far: replaced the head gasket, tightened new head bolts down to 50 ft lbs, put in rocker shaft and tightened to 30 ft lbs, put on dual hs2 carbs with american model manifold, put on stock exhuast header, connected oil rocker feed kit, replaced oil with same brand and grade 10w-40 quaker state add zddp, and connected the hoses and all the other little tid bits.
now here comes my dilemma before i had to take off my head gasket and all of that good stuff my engine didnt leak any oil (I was pretty proud of it seeing how it is an MG) but now oil is leaking out from between the engines rear engine plate and the transmissions bell housing. now it isnt consistently dripping but if you leave for 15 minutes or so after letting it cool down from a normal operation there will be a thin puddle of oil ? i fix one hting and another breaks on me what do i do??

UH oh!! Sounds like the Rear Main seal is leaking. That's why I took my engine out. Trouble is that was 25 years ago. I am just about ready to rebuild the engine.
It will keep running OK if you keep an eye on the oil level. You might find you will start to get a bit of clutch slip.
Good luck.

What might you have done that would create higher internal pressure than before ? Do you still have the same type of crankcase breathing that you had with whatever carbs you had earlier ?

what year car is it?

the positive crankcase is still breathing like it had in the past by hooked up to the charcole canister and the pcv valve is hooked from the intake manifold to the charcoal canister also. um the year of my car is a 1976 1500 midget so hypathetically speaking how hard is it to pull this sucker seeing how i just had the radiator and everything just out for the cylinder head ?

If you pull the starter and look in you can tell if it is indeed the mainseal because the front (opposite side from the clutch) will be wet. If it is dry it is coming from the transmission (unlikely).

Clutch "grab" and chatter are more likely from a little oil... It typically takes a LOT of oil on the clutch to make it slip (unless your clutch was nearly gone anyway).

Pulling the engine is no biggie but I'd probably drive it as is until it got nice an toasty out (unless the leak becomes severe).

p'haps it's time for a rebuild?

Double check where the oil is coming from. You stated that you replaced the head gasket......I have had many cases of the 1500 engine leaking oil at the back edge of the head leading to owners thinking it was the rear main seal as the oil runs down the back of the engine. Did you have the head surfaced? 10w 40 oil? 20 50 is a better choice, but will not cure the leak.

um i didnt have the head surfaced and i torqued all the bolts in the proper order and if the oil does seep out from the back of the head will it eventually properly seal?

if you have oil leaking out the head gasket , it will eventually seal.... right after you replace the head gasket , and fix whatever other issue there is. How about leaking out of the valve cover gasket?

Alex,
Sorry to say , but oil leaks will not cure themselves.
Clean the area around the cylinder head on the drivers side of the block with some brake cleaner. Now run the engine and watch the area at the rear of the head very closely. The 1500 engines have a very thin area where the lifters and push rods come up thru the head, leaving very little sealing area. All that oil splashing around has to go somewhere, and that's were it escapes in a lot of cases. I always have 1500 heads surfaced and use High Tack spray on the gasket ( both sides) Never had a leak after that.
Good Luck!

Mike

I'm with mike, have not done many MG heads, but High Tack is great for all kinds of gasket applications, some newer dodges specify using it in the manual, i use High Tack on just about all I do. Anything that prevents a comeback is my friend!

I'd bet the valve cover gasket is leaking. Start from the top down in your search. Some folks use baby powder sprinkled over the engine to find a leak. It'll be clear as a bell where the leak is once the baby powder absorbs the oil.