Hey guys, Its my first post here. Ive been reading up and learning from this forum for a little while now. I guess a little background info is in order. I bought a 74 duster about 4 years ago. I drove it for about a year and half with no problems. Then it started developing starting problems. At the same time i lost my job and couldn't afford to fix it. A month later i found a job really close to home so i would take the bus or borrow my gfs car. I deciding to try and get the car running a month ago and have done a few things to it already. I should mention that i did take it to a mechanic about 6 months ago and asked if he can get it working. It was a maddening experience because he suddenly said my car needed this and that and wouldn't explain why or gave a shady explanation. According to him he changed the distributor timing gear and flywheel. We went through this whole process of me asking for receipts and he refused to give me any. So i told him i would have someone verify the work done and the next day he called and said he got the car running and wouldn't charge me for fixing the timing gear.

Shortly after the car wouldnt start again. And i again didn't have the money to fix it. Skip forward to today and I've decides to do as much work on it as i can by myself to avoid hassles.
Following the guides Aand advice of some members here I've done the following. Fuel line mod, valve lash adjustment and osac bypass. I also had the holley 1945 rebuilt and adjusted. Apparantly thats what was giving me startup problems. The carb shop that rebuilt the holley told me that the vacuum advance was off and recommend that i disconnect it until i had the money to fix it. Now a few days after i did the valve lash adjusent i found a leak near the back of the engine right below the #6 piston. I also did a compression test and here are my numbers.

1= 120
2 = 120
3= 115( 120 after wet compression test)
4= 145
5= 145
6=90 (145 after wet compression)
According to these number 6 most likely has worn piston rings. Or i was wondering if the leak could also be a cause for low compression.
I have a few pics i took of the leak. Could it be a head gasket leak. Or could the leak be elswhere.

http://s1274.photobucket.com/albums/y43 ... f7424b.jpg


http://s1274.photobucket.com/albums/y43 ... bfbfe1.png

It looks like the oil's coming from the joint between the head and engine block, but it's hard to tell. It could be coming from the back of the valve cover; you may want to take a closer look back there. What kind of valve cover gasket are you using, and did you replace it after you set the valve lash?

Probable worst case for the oil leak will be a head gasket, which isn't too hard to replace if you have someone to help lift the head. If you have a bad head gasket, that might also be causing your bad compression, but it's not likely.

Based on the difference between wet and dry tests, the low compression is probably related to your piston rings (if my understanding is correct... which it might not be). If the rings are truly worn out, it's going to be a lot of work to replace them. Depending on how fast you burn oil, you might just want to leave it for now. On the other hand, if the car has been sitting for that long, the rings could just be stuck. Someone on here can give you better advice for diagnosing and/or fixing that problem.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Jpcash,

Pretty common place to leak. Many times when folks replace the head gasket they don't seal the outside skirt.......Doc has some photos of using copper colored silicone along that edge in addition to the head gasket.

I would change your valve cover gasket first to be sure, but I really think the engine builder didn't seal that edge.....ask me how I know.
I learned it the hard way after a supposedly credible shop rebuilt one of my engines. Leaked like a sieve....and they supposedly resurfaced the block and the head.

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

I did replace the valve cover gasket but only after i noticed the leak. It was the rubber type gasket and i read here to use white lithium grease on the gasket so thats what i did. I'll double check the back of the valve cover just to be sure. If it does turn out to be the head like aggressive ted said ill just go ahead and pull the head and replace the gasket.