<VV> REAR HOUSING OIL LEAK REPAIR and wheel leak repair

[Larry Forman]

When I started getting involved in Corvairs, Mike Peters, who sold a lot 
of Corvair parts and gave away advice, told me of a Corvair guy who had 
a pesky and persistent problem with his bell housing leaking oil.   
After trying several attempts to solve it, he finally used epoxy paint 
on the inside of the bell housing to seal it up.   The problem was 
apparently micro-cracks in the aluminum casting that were not 
obvious.    So I started painting the insides of my bell housings with 
POR-15 as a preventative for that little problem.

I was also asked how I sealed the aluminum wheel from leaking down.   
For my problem, this was on a Hands Wheel, so I really did not want to 
replace or scrap it.   I was fortunate that the tire dealer was able to 
isolate the problem to the approximate area of the wheel where the air 
leak was originating.   Once this was known and marked, I was able to go 
to the inside surface (tire off, of course) and prep and paint that 
area.   I suppose, if you suspect porous castings, you could use POR-15 
on the entire inside of the aluminum wheel to seal it up "forever".    
The paint weight is negligible and if you paint the entire inside there 
should be minimal effect on the balance.

The tire dealer found the leak by using a traditional water tank 
immersion.   Another approach available today would be to use an 
ultrasonic leak detector.    These are frequency band "translators" that 
shift the ultrasonic frequency band down into the audible frequency 
band.   These are darn handy little devices, but are typically over $100 
on ebay.    They are usable for finding leaks in  LPG  systems (like for 
Ultravans), refrigerant leaks, and more.

If your leak is at the tire to wheel interface, then once you find the 
leak (which might be due to a surface imperfection) smooth or correct 
that surface.    Sounds like a job for JB Weld or a file and sand paper.

Larry

On 12/13/2010 3:09 PM, shortle wrote:
> How and where do you apply it on a Corvair bell housing?
> Timothy Shortle in Durango Colorado