Chocolate Shake in my bilge

I finally got my 1956 correct craft running in the driveway (whoohoo). When we put her in the water and power to the transmission, oil pressure drops, and I get the dreaded oil/water foam in my bilge. The crankcase oil looks fine, but we lost about 2 quarts on a 10 minute ride. She has an original 292 yblock mated to the orginal velvet drive ( I think ) tranny. This tranny shares the engine oil pump for hydraulic pressure. I just had the transmission overhauled this winter.

My question is how do I troubleshoot the problem? I need to isolate it to the tranny (send back to rebuilder) or start work on the engine rebuild .....

Any help on how to isolate the problem is appreciated.

Well not a velvet drive transmission if it is sharing oil pressure but thats not too important. Lets get a good set of pics on how that tranny is mated to the engine, what hoses go where etc. I imagine you could run it without the tranny attached somehow and see if the oil leak still happens. If you run it on a hose in the driveway would you be able to locate where the oil is actually leaking in the bilge. I am guessing this boat is going to have a very wet bilge anytime its in the water until you get her tightened up? cool boat

thanks for all the responses --- I will post pictures / more detail tonight.

I would disconnect the coupling on the prop shaft from the tranny so that you can put the tranny in gear in the drive and find out where that 2 qt's is going, It shouldn't take long to find just rinse out the bilge with castrol super clean and hose it down so it's nice and clean then it will be easy to see once it sttarts to pour into the bilge. Places to check are the oil lines going to the cooler, fittings on both ends, timing cover seals behind the balancer, ,belhousing/rear main seal, output shaft on the tranny. Go to the auto parts store and get one of those small mirrors that you can change the angle on and look under the oil pan and tranny for cracks. I would focus on the tranny section since it has to be in gear before the pressure drops.

I am not aware of a cooler. I do suspect the high pressure line. Each side is connected with a 90 degree threaded coupling as shown below.



If they are leaking, how do I remove/replace? Cut the hose, remove fittings, and buy a complete replacement set?

There is a tag on the tranny, but it is the Interceptor tag for the engine serial #. The tranny does have F-M 107 stamped on the side.