Journal: The 72B Mini Project

Well what I didn’t cover last time was that I seem to have developed an oil leak. As such I figured I’d deal with that before trying to test the carbs out some more.

The leak was coming from the rear oil line as it enters the block. It wasn’t coming from the line itself or from the line attachment. It was coming from behind the adapter and between the block. The biggest issues were that the line nut and the adapter were over an inch in size and that’s the biggest wrench/socket I have. I managed to get the oil line off with an adjustable wrench but that wasn’t going to work, nor did I want to risk it, for the adapter. I discovered that the adapter is 1 1/8 in size and once I had a socket it wasn’t that hard to remove. I was surprised that the socket fit given the close proximity to the back of the block.

With the adapter removed I discovered that there was a washer behind it as it was supposed to be but closer inspection revealed a nick in the inner part. It looks sort of like 2 washers of slightly different sizes stuck together. With advice from MG Experience again I went in search of a copper washer and found something at Advance Auto Parts. It was a drain plug washer but it at least fit.

I installed the replacement washer and put the adapter and line back and with some time to warm the engine up I wasn’t finding any leaks so at this point it was time for a road test of the carbs/fuel delvier again. I headed a couple of miles up the road and put in some gas and things seemed fine on all fronts. The return home was also fine and having dropped of my spare gas can I went back out to drive some more to test the carbs and fuel delivery.

As I left my subdivision there was suddenly smoke everywhere and a burning oil smell. If I slowed a little this disappear but with some speed it came back. Well this seems to be oil leaking down the drivers side of the block and getting onto the exhaust (although it took a while to figure this out). I’m guess that the tappet/side cover on the engine is leaking and almost certainly it’s the one I replaced way back when I first removed the carbs/manifolds to fine the front cover used on the back and the vent blocked off.

Well at least the fuel problem didn’t come back although the fuel filter is very low again. I guess the manifold is coming off again while I go back to check on that cover and although the car ran fine I am wondering if the fuel stuff might be a blocked fuel vent line. Some more investigations to follow after the Missouri Endurance Rally next weekend. The learning continues!