John Dziadecki writes:
> He called back this afternoon (busy fellow, booked solid, but I trust him 
> so what can I say). He said the sump plug had come out. Furthermore he 
> said that plug never comes out. He added older engines tend to run hotter 
> (mine's at 176K) and maybe the hot/cold cycle caused it to come loose. 
> Anyway, he had a sump plug in the shop which he epoxied into place. 
> Tomorrow the oil goes back in and I hope to be back on the road.
I'm not sure what a sump plug is, but my ex-girlfriend had a massive oil leak
in her '78 bus.  It was plug on the FRONT of the engine.  Is this what you're
talking about?  It was to plug where they drilled an oil galley during the
manufacture of the block, I think.  Anyway, you had to drop the engine and
remove the flywheel to get to it.  The mechanic glued it back in (without
guarantee).  This didn't seem too reliable to me, and I tried to get him to tap
the hole and put in a pipe plug.  He claimed he couldn't for some reason.  His
method seemed to hold, but when we rebuilt the engine several thousand miles
down the road, I had the block hot tanked and also had the machine shop put in
a pipe plug like I wanted in the first place.  They didn't have any trouble,
and it only cost a few bucks.  (Just have to make sure it screws in pretty
flush as there isn't much clearance between the back of the block and the
flywheel.)  It's held for several thousand miles, too.

Pat Walsh, '71 Westy, walshp@indy.navy.mil