A couple weeks ago, several of you were kind enough to give this plucky little flying squirrel a primer on how to handle the oil that I will shortly be taking out of my 71 bus without making a great big mess.
Last night I stumbled across an article, "TULZ - Part Seven," by Bob Hoover at
He's very precise in his directions. He doesn't want you to just change the oil, but to clean the goop out of the sump, too (see his article).
To do it right per him, one needs to track down the good gaskets and sump studs and drain plug washers. Gathering the correct parts looks like a chore and a half. Should I fret about:
- "high-compliant oil-proof gaskets"? Hoover writes, "To insure a leak-free [sump] assembly you need to start with all of the surfaces being flat and clean then use high-compliant oil-proof gaskets, non-hardening sealant and the proper torque values for the six nuts. Things go awry right off the bat because typical sump gaskets sold today are permeable cardboard instead of resin-coated non-permeable gasket material. In plain language, they are unsuitable as oil gaskets; they leak. That means you have to spray the cardboard jobbies with a non-hardening sealant. Most folks don't. So the sump drips oil. So they over-torque the nuts which bends the hell out of the sump plate and the flange of the oil pickup screen and after that, it leaks even worse. Go figger."
- "Crushable copper washers"? He writes, "The other thing folks do wrong is to NOT replace the crushable copper washers on the sump studs and drain plug. The copper washers are designed to do two things. The first is to form an oil tight seal, the second is to prevent the drain plug & acorn nuts from coming loose. Crushable copper washers are a one-time-use item. On installation, when torqued to the proper value, it gets crushed. The crush is what keeps the oil in and the drain plug or acorn nut(s) from coming loose. Re-use the copper washers and you have to over-torque them to form an oil tight seal and by that time there isn't any 'crush' left, meaning things are going to come loose. Loose acorn nuts, you got a leaky, messy sump plate. But a loose sump plug can cost you an engine."
If it is good practice to use those parts, then where's the good place to get them from? Hoover suggests that the crushable washers can be obtained from a Toyota dealership . . . is there someplace online that's more convenient? And where does a fellow find the good-kind gaskets?
Or -- is he just being overly-fussy? Are there alternate, just as good ways to put things together after pulling the sump plate and getting the sludge out?
BTW - I have a 1776 engine. If that makes a difference.