I have a feling there are other issues at work here. Also, if you REALLY looked around you can probably find that o'ring. By the way, what happened to the original o'ring? If the adapter was snug, it shouldn't have pushed out.
This is odd .... when I hit the button to edit my entry, it says that I don't have permission to do that .... WT*
Kinda glad you said that John because I didnt mention it... heres how it went down. The adapter came with the motor when I bought it, when it started leaking I pulled it out to check the o-ring and found that the original o-ring was not present. The two bolts were loose so I took an assumption that I could clean everything and it would possibly work. I pulled the adapter o-ring out to inspect it and it was pinched. I tried to turn it clean it and turn it around, put the bolts back in it, filter, then two quarts of oil. No bueno still so, today, I went ahead and purchased a new kit to alleviate even a remote possibility of the old one being warped. With the kit only being $24, I didnt even worry about hunting down the o-ring. Hope that answers your question John.
Hopefully this will answer some questions. On most Chevys (in fact all) there is a a small one way valve at approx. 7:00 o'clock on the stock adapter (see above). Chevy put it there to by-pass oil back into the oil system if the oil filter became clogged either by dirt or by the filter element falling apart. It would also by-pass oil on start up in really cold weather so that the can would not rupture, o'ring blow out, or the filter element collapse. The new adapter does not have that provision. The old adapter by-pass valves would sometimes by-pass too much oil (piece of dirt or, again, pieces of the filter element itself, lodged between the valve and seat) leading to lower pressure and unfiltered oil. So hot rodders would put a pipe plug in the by-pass and then were assured of filtered oil and constant, accurate oil pressure. But on start up be very careful not to rev the engine until the oil has warmed up. With the canister type filters there is a possibility of rupture by way of too much pressure (again too much pressure cold with no by-pass). The pictures and information describing this adapter that you supplied, indicate that the old, by-pass adapter should be removed and the new adapter be put in it's place, not stacked one on the other.
This is the by pass part and does not come in the kit. It must be used in order for that o ring to stay in place. The o ring fit around the outside of the by pass and the new adapter sets in on top of the oring. We installed a many of them way back in the day.
Food for thought HTTP://www.pontiacpower.com/FAQ12.htm
