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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - 215 Oil Dipstick

Hello all,
Something that has been bothering me in the back of my mind as I try to complete my car; I highly doubt my oil dipstick matches my 215. I was hoping a few of you out there with the same engine, could please take some measurements for me when it's convenient, so I could make a better guided decision on whether it's the right length or not.

What I'm looking for is the distance from the engine block to the end of the dip stick tube, as well as the distance from the full mark on the stick to the resting surface at the base of the stick handle

This isn't a big deal to me right now, the engine has a while to wait until it sits in the car again, but it's something I'll have to figure out eventually.

Anthony.
Anthony Morgan

Anthony,

There is no dipstick tube; the dipstick goes directly into the block casting. The distance from the cap that blocks the stick from going deeper into the block to the full mark is 11” (28cm). From the cap to the add one quart is 11 ¾” (30cm), from the cap to the add two quarts mark is 12 5/8” (32cm) and from the cap to the end is 13 7/8”(35.2cm). From the cap to the top of the loop is 7 ¾” (20cm).
George Champion

Yeah, that's a really poor design. Tends to leak badly. I took a dipstick out of a later car, in this case a 4.6L Ford engine along with the tube and made up a proper one by finding a piece of fuel line that would fit the block hole and brazing it to the cup for the dipstick. After adding 5 quarts of oil and starting the engine to fill the filter I trimmed the tube to put the oil at the full mark and brazed a tab on the tube to bolt to the head. I think I may have used one of the valvecover bolts. Then painted it. Now I have a proper dipstick that looks good, works well, and doesn't leak.

Jim
Jim Blackwood

D&D sells a dip stick that fits the Buick 215. That's what I have and it works great.

Jim Miller

I used one from an old Rover P5B in my '63 Skylark engine, I had to cut part of the end off where it sticks in, but it fits fine and looks great.
Jake

Thanks for the responses.

Food for thought...

Anthony
Anthony Morgan

Whatever you do, don't follow other people's measurements. The consequences of an error are too serious. I know because the garage which installed my brand new super-recond engine bought what they thought was the correct dipstick and filled the sump on that basis. After running on only about 3 pints of oil for 1200 miles, the bigends went and the engine had to be stripped and rebuilt. (The garage were forced to pay for this.)

Get your dipstick. Measure the oil into the sump pint by pint and then mark the dipstick at the level it shows when you are sure you have the correct quantity of oil.
Of course my own garage should have done this in the first place. I don't use them any more.
Marc

...and further to Marc's note - if filling after a rebuild, don't forget to spin it over to get the lines, cooler and filter all full first...
David

This thread was discussed between 29/03/2003 and 05/04/2003

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