I know that my front seal is leaking and I am about to relace it with a new neoprene seal but I am concerned that the amout of oil leakage is more than just a front seal. I am leaking about 1quart in 250 miles. Is this a normal amount for a very bad front seal or should I be looking at other areas such as oil pan leaks that only happen when the car is driven over 60 MPH. I say this because it does not appear to drip much at idle but I come home from a long hard run and I have oil droplets on the rear bumper and trunk lid areas. There is no visible blue smoke ever even under hard acceleration or after coasting so I think it is mechanically good. Any thoughts? Peter Sant Cool R2 63R1653 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Check your PCV valve. If you are building pressure in your oil pan you can blow a lot of oil out through weak seals. Ken ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember, the more time you spend under boost the more oil you will loose. David --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter, There is a oil pan filler block at the front of the engine. It is of a pot metal type material and has about four or five tapped holes in it. When you have the oil pan down, I would recommend Heli-coil these holes in order to prevent stripping the threads when you reassemble the new front seal. Avanti. Jim Frakes --------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter: It sounds indeed like your front engine seal is leaking. the seal on my 259 in my Lark has been bad for some time now. It leaks none to little at either idle or slower city speeds. But on the highway, above 60 mph, it leaks pretty bad, and the oil not only covers the front cross member, but gets blown back along the passenger side of the engine and frame by the engine's fan. But you may want it to do that....:) keeps frames from rusting!!! :) Lew --------------------------------------------------------------------- Forrm-a-thread (by Permatex) is cheaper (and faster) than helicoiling and I've had no problems with it. frank r5421 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I don't think R-2's have a PCV valve, but they did ventilate the = crankcase through a hose to the air cleaner. It appears that you're = building up excess pressure from blow-by or whatever and it's not being = vented correctly or adequately. In the case of an R-2, your engine is = exposed to much more cylinder pressure because of the blower. This may be = adding to your problem if your compression rings are worn a bit. = ...../rfj --------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree with the Form-a-Thread. I've used it to restore a stripped lug = bolt hole on a wheel. That indicates pretty fair strength..... --------------------------------------------------------------------- R2s do have a PCV valve that connects at the rear of the carburetor, one which I believe is unique among Studebaker V8s. Because the blower is not usually creating positive boost pressure, I don't think we can blame the supercharger for creating a positive pressure in the crankcase except for the few percent of the time the blower is truly working. Still, if the seal leaks that badly, it should be replaced. Finally, despite my support of the latest in chemical technology, I still prefer heli-coils for restoring threaded holes. It appeals to me as being a repair of a more permanent nature. Thanks, Chris Altenburg ---------------------------------------------------------------- What I have done when the engine is either apart, or I have the oil pan down and the front main cap off, is remove the front filler block, drill a hole through each of the four or five bolt holes, then thread the hole using course threads, and put a slightly longer bolt through the filler block through the back side. After replacing the filler block, I could then use a new gasket on the oil pan and timing gear cover and bolt the cover on the block using the bolts everywhere else and nuts on the bolts that are sticking out from the filler block. If you do this, it will NEVER leak again, and you save the cost of a new filler block, if you can find one. And you never again have to worry about the filler block threads becoming stripped. Lew ---------------------------------------------------------------- When you mentioned threading with coarse threads, it brought to mind the carburetor bolt kits sold at auto parts stores - four studs, fine thread on one end and coarse thread on the other. Screw in with threadlocking compound and you're home free. Thanks, Chris Altenburg ---------------------------------------------------------------- Chris, I have done this fix on a several engines, and all held just fine... If there isn't enough "meat" in the filler block after drilling, you can also double-nut the stud, so the nut stays in the "well" of the filler block hole... Lew ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------