Valve Seals

How it was Used: I took of the oil pan simply because the paint looked pretty shoty and i planned on just cleaning and painting it the right blue. Soon i discovered, however, that chunks of what looked and felt like metal were sitting at the bottom. This is not good because this means there is a brocken part somewhere in the motor, and maybe not all of it had worked its way down to the pan yet. i asked my friend who now works at the kart shop, but used to work for a ford manufacturing plant. I showed him the pieces and he immediately identified them as plastic. i was shocked at first, but he explained to me that they get petrified since they are sitting in oil all the time (in this case for 40 years). The bits of "metal" were valve seals that, he explained, typically started breaking in frequently used mustangs, falcons, comets, and fairlanes in the late 70's to early 80's. Since they were just starting to break now, my word of mouth history report of the car's use and ownership over the years now had some proof to it. i concluded that at best, my car had been garaged for about 35 years, but this is only based on my knowledge of these valve seals. I bought a new set of valve seals and put them in fairly easily with the right tool. oh ya, and i painted the oil pan too.

Price Paid: $10