Credit John Feistritzer for this good idea.

Excellent idea. I wish I had thought about that when I did the rebuild.

One way to reduce the leak potential of the valley cover is to drill and tap for a few fasteners on the perimeter of the thing.  I did this several years ago on my 292 and it worked well.

Well I can tell you from experience there is a bolt hole at the rear of the passenger head hidden behind the dizzy which is through to the pushrod tube. I thought my valley plate was the cause and fixed it only to find the oil still appearing. I recently relocated the battery to the boot and this caused a second leak. What I found was that the bolt hole in the rear of the drivers head which I had previously secured the earth strap was now open. Therefore I plugged the hole and one leak down I pursued the original.
I removed the passenger rocker cover to check its gasket and then there it was looking right back at me. A sneaky hole behind the dizzy with a thread and through to the pushrod tube. So I remove the dizzy and plugged the hole to finally have a leak free engine.

Thanks Charlie.
The valley cover is the original of the engine with 40 plus years old, and was really warped when I pulled it out for the rebuild. When I rebuilt it, I spent a lot of time trying my best to straighten it up, and it did get straight, but I guess the repeated "gets hot gets cold" cycles made it warp again enough to let oil out and get all over that area around the dizzy wet with oil. The oil then goes down by the sides of the block and into the clutch pan, making it appear to be a rear main leak. Pulled that pan, and the rear main is bone dry. Real nasty little leak, not in quantity of oil that leaks, that is really minimal, but it makes quite a mess. 
My engine has a road draft tube coming out of the rear of the pan, and it was hard to find another pan. I got lucky and got a NOS part that I hope to have installed this next weekend. 
I'm having those evil thoughts about getting it chrome plated... But I saw those things to get warped on plating, and that is something I do not want even to think about happening.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

The torque spec for valley cover bolts is only about 2.5 ft lbs.  Real easy to overdo it.



Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks!!
I was already lucky. Could find a NOS valley cover to replace mine. That thing leaks because it's warped...

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

Sounds really nice. Good luck.


~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles

Great!!
Thanks a lot!
I have a full gasket set, and think I will install a new pair just to be sure. The old ones look so nice I thought about re-using them. 
When I installed the intake a couple of years ago, I used 3M engine gasket adhesive on the heads, so the gaskets would be in perfect position, and nothing on the intake. When I pulled the intake, the gaskets looked like they were the day I put them on. Great gaskets made by Taranto in Argentina. The set even comes with the modern two part rubber rear main seal. My engine was rebuilt in 2010 and not a drop comes from the rear main.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

23 to 28 ft lbs per US specs and you should buy new gaskets.


~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles