<VV> Werid Problem (long) (Skip in time is of the essence)

[Ewell Mills]

I have just returned from Helen Ga. for their great Springfest Show.  Before I begin, I would like to congratulate the Atlanta Corvair club and the Heart of Georgia Club for another great show.  Thanks to all for a great week-end. Everything was out-standing, especially the food.

Before beginning, I would like to express that winning the not so coveted "Hard Luck Award" was not my goal.  I would much rather someone else had won it.

To explain, I left Cocoa, Fl, Thursday Morning at 7:30 AM with what I thought was a Corvair ready to make it trouble free to Helen, Ga. (1965 Monza Convertible w/110, P/G with approximately 6000 miles on Engine) Helen, Ga, is approximately 600 miles from Cocoa one way. Only one mile from home on Interstate 95, I looked in my rear view mirror and discovered that I was blanketing the highway with blue smoke, and observing cars behind me heading for the grassy medians due to total lack of visibility.  I immediately pulled over to the side (after exhaling several bad words), figuring that I had blown an engine.  Actually the car never missed a beat, and was still running great when I pulled over. Both tailpipes (I have dual stock mufflers) were still emitting blue smoke, but the engine was idling smoothly.  Upon opening the engine cover I immediately saw that I had oil all over the place, and the dip-stick was sticking out about 2 inches.  I closed the engine compartment cover, and made a hasty retreat for home.  Once home, I remembered that when getting things ready to go to Helen, I had topped off the oil, but put in slightly to much. (Maybe about a pint).  At this point I assumed that they meant what they said when they said  "Do not overfill", so I cleaned up the mess and proceeded on my way to Helen. I  did notice that that the Voltmeter was very erratic, and the car was pre-detonating pretty badly when starting off from idle.  I properly assumed here that this was due to the belt slipping and sliding in the oil.  I made a planned stop in Atlanta (at my Son's house) and while cleaning up the mess with "Greased Lightening", I discovered that the Air Cleaner was soaked in oil and the oil filter housing (lower  part) was full of oil.  I cleaned this all up, and bought a replacement air cleaner.  While doing this I made sure the PCV tube was not stopped up, and that the small hole in it was clear.
I proceeded on to Helen with no problems where I replaced the Belt. After replacing the belt I noticed that I was puddling oil under the car. While investigating where this was coming from, I discovered that the drivers side thermostat was in a state of half failure, (not fully close or open) so I removed the drivers side Shroud.  This is when I discovered that the Oil filter was leaking quite badly.  Corvair Motorsports was kind enough to give me a new fiber washer, and the leak was fixed after tightening the filter. (Car is A/C and has offset Oil filter).  I talked with a lot of people in Helen who are technically a lot more competent than I and here is what I came up with.

1. I have no idea.
2. Blowby by Rings suddenly having gaps aligned.
3. No idea.
4. Add Oil to full mark and forget it.
5. (Here's the best one, but I suppose a possibility).  Snout on Oil Filter housing was sucking up the oil that the filter was leaking out, up to the point that that the PCV tube (in the filter housing was covered up with oil.  This in turn caused a build-up of pressure in the crankcase that caused the pressure to blow out the oil dipstick, and spray oil all over the engine.  Of course the blue smoke was due to the engine burning the oil in the air filter and housing).  Wow.

Incredibly, the car ran over 600 miles back to Cocoa, Fl. at 65 to 70 MPH with no problems.  I had previously added 1 quart of oil, (measured two quarts low) and engine now measures 1 quart low. (Since oil pressure held good, I was afraid to add more).

I will appreciate any and all suggestions as to what the heck happened to it, and what I need to do to fix it and avoid a reoccurrence of the problem.

Cecil Mills
Cocoa, Fl.