so after doing the cam chain i had trouble finding TDC
i followed advice from here and lined up the 2 marks on right side of camshaft end to top of head, and put the gear on so that the pin was positioned at 1 oclock.
i had noticed that on the rightside crankshaft end the is a small punchmark.
should that have been facing towards the top ?


also i did the plug cap fix and she is still leaking from that same area.
there is a big head bolt back there that you have access to when plug cap is removed. does that head bolt have a sealing washer ? or am i possibly looking at a head gasket failure ?

franch wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:


Whoa...Up to this it sounded about right.  The right side crankshaft mark?  What about the line and paint mark on the left side crankshaft?  The bolt head under the plug.

You might want to take a look back at the Tech section

Quote:


Did you seal the plug?

And yes...I mentioned it somewhere that those copper washers are meant to squish and seal, but if you can't find TDC, it isn't running yet is it?

The correct sequence is: first TDC then align the marks on the camshaft.
If the camshaft is not connected to the crankshaft it does not matter which TDC. TDC is TDC.  Once you align the camshaft you time the opening (and closing) of the valves.

Put the piston at TDC
Align the marks on the camshaftgear.
You're done.

Greetz
Kropatchek

franch wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:


I eagerly await other’s answers to these questions of yours, as I’m due to wade into the same swamp in the not too distant future. Like you, I suspect leaking at both the plug and perhaps the underlying bolt's washer/gasket too. It’s hard to tell exactly where it all comes from back there in that recess behind the header. Good luck with yours!

Yeah, she was clean as a wistle. used permatex copper there too. my buddy helped me guide the head cover back in place while I manuevered the 2 bolts that stay with the head cover so that we didn't inadvertently smudge any sealant off.
it definitely appears to be leaking in that area you show in your pic. I had spent lots of time scraping of old oil sludge and road grime from there with a dental tool before putting it back together.
maybe, just maybe its old oil that got heated up and is spreading. never got a chance to hit the car wash.
also noticed it's already pooling in there.
having taken the head cover off once I am not too shy to do it again, wasn't that hard just time consuming.
I'm going to move her back in next to the woodstove and do it all over again including that compression washer.

franch wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:01:


One thing that I did last time...when I had the head off of another Savage...

I took a good flat file to those copper washers.  

You can recondition them nice and smooth and reuse them if you want.