wagon is givin me a headache here...

It sounds like you are going through some very similar things as I am right now with my Caprice Estate. Valve cover gasket leaking, oil burning off and smoking, and white smoke coming out the tale pipe when starting. I just got a new valve cover gasket today. If I'm feeling brave, I may see if I can get it on myself tomorrow. Please let us know how things work out with you once you work on yours.

 

Leaking valve cover gaskets are common on those 307's. Just remove the covers, clean the heads where they were, clean the valve covers and install new gaskets. Get a good quality set of gaskets.

 

mines not puffing out white smoke, it's puffing out blue smoke. white smoke means your head gasket is going bad, blue smoke means oil burning.

I plan on putting some nice gaskets on it monday, i might tackle them myself but more then likely i'll have Chuck up at work do them for me cause he's gotta help with my cap and rotor monday morning. Oh and i started work on a handmade set of custom Euro tail lites lenses for the wagon. Using thin plexi and a heat gun to bend it and mold it. then just have to spray the inside of the tail light housing with chrome paint and get colored bulbs for it. then i will start on some custom headlight covers. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

dam good sugestions!

Andy also mentioned washing the engine Get it warm to hot, spray it down with Simple Green, drive it so the simple green sokes in, repeat and presure wash (been there done that many times) Just avoid derect contact to your distributor and leave the air cleaner on. You may have some spots that need hand on grease removal, but thats OK

Heavy gease build up on enginse is not good, all the years of grease etc built up holds temp in and you want it to escape

EDIT>> Get under the car/engine as best as you can to degress and presure wash also.

 

i was just gonna put a plastic bag of over the distributor and the battery and acouple other things. but i have a heavy duty degreaser that i got from work and i know it works good. we use it in our parts cleaner and have acouple drums of it. yeah the bottom is what needs hit the most. i've already used a rag and a spray bottle of this degreaser on the lil nooks and crannies that i know i couldn't get a power washer to work in. i'll be sure to take pics of before and after. but i know in spots it has at least a 1/2 inch of goop caked on the block. new radiator works very well, i replaced the old one with a aftermarket performance radiator. picked it up for $98 having ordered from my works parts dealers while at work. I know if i would have bought it at a auto store it would of cost over $150.

 

k so i did part of the engine today and will finish the rest tomorow. but i did happen to find some nice wheel trim rings and fixed the trim on the front bumper. but here's some pics of the wagon as of today.

 

No wonder it's giving you a headache.....with those big honkin' speakers stuffed in there.
I would love to have that car.

 

Looks good, nice clean front interiour

 

i have a set of baby moons ordered for it and i'll have those sometime this next week. before that though i have to repaint the wheels.

the entire interior is nice like the front other then the saggy headliner.

P.S. idk if any of you noticed the 1930 ford in the background, that's my grandparents neighbors rat rod.

 

well idk if i should replace the valve cover gaskets now, since it has now quit smoking and burning oil on the engine like it was. maybe the wagon just needed to be taken out and driven for a good couple days. it kinda proves that my theory of it been sitting for awhile and it just needed some tlc.

 

Perhaps some got spilled during a top-off, or oil change.

 

that's what i was thinking aswell.

 

GOOD NEWS!!!!!! the wagon runs like a dream now!!! i finally finished replacing all the filters i could find. found 3 vacuum leaks on it today and fixed them. New distributor and rotor, and finally a breather filter(i don't think this filter has ever been changed). then i turned the idle up just a tad cause it was dying when i would put it in gear. Now it takes off real good with barely pushing the throttle pedal, only thing it does is smoke when i start it but i will fix that by having the engine rebuilt this fall. after all this work and money i've put into this wagon in the last week have finally paid off. i've put a total of $280 in parts. So all together i have a little over $700 in this wagon including buying price. i plan on taking work off tomorow and filling the tank up and going on a drive and relax after working on it for the past week or so straight.

 

Good for you, did! I'm a little concerned about twisting that idle up but those cars run good and I'm happy that you got it together.!

 

Do your engine a favour and run this stuff in there:
www.auto-rx.com
You might be able to avoid that rebuild. This will clean the ring packs and restore compression.