i noticed a leak an its coming from between the front 2 housings?..its not bad but enough to know...does this require an engine rebuild or can it be done without?..i'll try posintg pics soon

 

Dowel pin leak, common on the 83-85 12As due to the beehive oil cooler. Best fix is a rebuild, temporary one has been suggested using Bardahls, iirc.

 

This is what mine has right now, and i'm getting it rebuilt.

 

or use lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer

edit - if you use this, put the quart or 2 quarts in AFTER you put in ur normal 20w50 or 10w30/40. otherwise the lucas will plug up your oil cooler. for front mounts at least.

 

but im looking at about 1000 bux for a rebuild..thats alot..my budget is limited

 

lucas is like 9 bucks. and why the heck not when u can squeeze in a few more miles until ur rebuild

 

i finally used about 1.75 quarts of lucas in my engine after about 2.5 quarts of chevron 20w50 but i didnt completely drain all of my motor oil i just put the drain plug back in when it was a thin stream coming out. and i didnt change my oil filter either =\.. well i just wanted to try and see if it worked. and i guess it does because it only drips about 2 drops rather than a lot more before. and my oil cooler leak seems to not have oil flowing out of it like before. my stock oil pressure gauge is just below 30 psi and revving up to almost 3 stays at 60 psi. and when im driving does not go over more than a little after 60 psi. anyways just wanted to update people about lucas. thanks for reading and have a happy new year!