[steveo3318]

The throw up was actually from the heat and being sick of this engine install/build. Well after getting the heads back on, the intake on correctly and everything buttoned back up I took her for a strait header drive. Let me just say she is more than I was expecting. Huge smile, ear to ear.

Now for the bad. The damn rear mail seal, or oil plug galleys, or cam plug is now leaking oil constantly. Once again its out with the engine to find or fix the problem.

My main reason for this post is to get any TIPS and best seals for the rear main. Thanks gentlemen.

Is it just me or does the 15 minute drive of a ford big block wipe away all those hard miserable hours of work with one smile??? Yall should of seen the people just stop their conversations and what they were doing in town to watch old christene drive by hitting with that 2500 stall. I was one proud father.

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

The FE is the best head turner of all time in my book. Absolute head turner with open headers and no other engine sounds like it.

Now about your rear main and your galley plugs.

The rear main should NEVER be installed backwards. Please fix that.

The galley plugs should be tapped and you should use pipe thread plugs when building the engine. I don't like freeze plug style plugs for my oil galley's, it's just a personal thing.

And if the galley plugs are leaking then the assembly was flawed, that should be looked into thoroughly. The rear main is easy to accidentally get one side in backwards and not realize your mistake.

 

[puttster]

Yeoww. Like going steady with the prom queen but all you can do is have coffee on Saturdays. But it IS a great 15 minutes.

 

[steveo3318]

It has the threaded plugs with some type of hardening sealant on them, Rear cam cap is installed correctly, I checked that before the install, I am tempted to change the rear main seal under the car but i have gotten so good at pulling the engine I feel like that will be easier. I also KNOW the manifold and valve covers are not leaking.

But here is what I am seeing. The oil is just running down the block and dripping off the plate. Its not slinging at all or coming off the fly wheel or the small portion of the rear of the crank you can see from underneath.

I am going to jerk her out tomorrow.

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

sounds like a rear main to me. You got one of the pieces in backwards. I did that to my dad's 60 Coupe DeVille a few years back and had to correct it in the car.... LOL

 

[61Sunliner]

I know that sick feeling well, when I fired up my freshly rebuilt 352 and was about 5 minutes into the cam break in when I hear a pop, the lifters started rattling and I look at the oil pressure and it was zero. Shut it down got out of the car and there is 5 quarts of $10 a quart Joe Gibbs break in oil on the floor. It had popped a pressed in galley plug. So out comes the trans and here I'm trying to tap the galleys for pipe plugs under the car sitting up in the trans tunnel and then hope I can get all the metal shavings out of the galley when I'm done.
In the end it all worked out and runs great.
Mike

 

[Marauderjack]

This is the only way we could fix the damn rear seal leak on my 408W Stroker (1974 Block with 2-piece seal)!!

Silver Seal Products Crankshaft Repair Sleeves

BTW......it worked GREAT!!!

Good Luck!!:tup:

 

[steveo3318]

Ok I got the engine almost out and most of my parts came in today. I want to explain my install steps and see if they are up to par. Please tell me any tips if yall see any problems.

1st off I am not removing the crank, so remove the rear main cap and knock out the old seal, "I HOPE".

2nd after the seal is out clean all surfaces really well with carb cleaner.

One problem I foresee is all the silicone left behind where the upper seal will be, how do I get silicone on there to run the new seal in???

3rd maybe put a small spot on the upper seal and try to run the new seal around!

PUT THE NEW SEAL IN WITH THE LIP FACING INWARDS TOWARDS THE PISTONS.

4th put a thin layer on the block and main cap mounting surfaces, side seal surfaces, and side seals, finger tighten main into place.

5th wiggle the side seals as far down as i can by hand then tap them in.

6th silicone up the nails and drive them in, then torque the mains.

Should I put any silicone on the surface of the seal that touches the crank??? I seen some on my old engine I took apart there???

Also should I redo the cam cap and oiling plugs while its out even if there are no leaks.

I dont want any more leaks but don' t want to cause any with to much silicone, lol

 

[puttster]

Can't speak to all of it but..

Forget all the silicone in the seal, it won't hold up. I'd use oil.
Check the crank, see if there is a groove in there that lets the oil past the seal.
If possible, leave a main seal end sticking out a little and its cap seal end counterpart sticking in a little. That way there is not a direct line for oil to run through the crack between the main and the cap.
Again, IMO no silicone gobbed on the mounting surfaces. Are you trying to make a gasket?
Finger tighten? I'd torque right away lest I forget.
Probably at least one of the side seals will be too fat to fit, even oiled. Don't hammer it. People who do that break them and then have to resort to filling the hole with something else. Just shave them down till it fits in all the way, smoothly. Bend the nail point away from the rubber, oil the hole, and tap that in.
If the side seals are sunk in clean them off and now, you can get out your silicone tube and gob some silicone in the hole and let it harden.

I should tell you though, I've only done this once - but it worked fine!!

 

[steveo3318]

I am just going to use oil on the half circle seals, but In Barry R's book it says to use a THIN THIN film on the side seals and the cap to block matting surface. I like your idea though. I think I may even test fit everything before I put it all together for the final time.

how do you feel about me spinning the crank to spin the new seal in. Or should I just take the whole crank out since I will have the engine out.

 

[puttster]

how do you feel about me spinning the crank to spin the new seal in. Or should I just take the whole crank out since I will have the engine out.

If the leak was caused by a backwards seal you may have to loosen the crank to replace it.

 

[steveo3318]

hope to get this done this weekend guys, works been keeping me late, I will also be priming the engine with my drill while its out of the car, I hope this shows the leak easily. Thanks for all the help.

 

[steveo3318]

So Its not the rear main seal, at least its not leaking yet, Its the rear main oil journal plug on top. My question is whats the best sealant to use on the threads, and should I go ahead and replace the rear main seal while its out even though its not leaking. Also why is the top plug thats leaking seated so much deeper than the others?

Also found out that my new fly wheel has smaller teeth and is not engaging very well and seems to be warped, I will be installing the old one back in. There is a good 1/16 or better difference in the flywheel teeth from the new one to the old one.

Here is a clean picture and a picture after priming it with a ryobi 18 volt cordless drill on 1 in the slowest speed. Pretty bad leak for not even warm.

I am thinking leave the rear main seal alone and keep it put up in case it does start leaking

 

[puttster]

Good job Steve.

Wrong threads? Or do you have mechanical lifters - might be that screw is a couple inches longer to plug off the lifter galleys. Actually the others seem a little proud, like they were hardware-store lengths.

What's that yellow stuff dripping out?

 

[steveo3318]

They were not the wrong threads, all were exactly the same and would all seat the same depth in each hole. The block shows to be a 60 and what I believe happened was they were tapped at a little different depth each. The top being a touch deeper than the rest but still not covering up the rear main cam journal. I MEASURED SIX TIMES LOL. It has hydraulic lifters.

I ended up using permatex high temp thread sealant that was kind of a white paste, i let it sit for a few minutes then checked for leaks while priming it. as of right now NO Leaks.

As for the Yellow stuff. I am ashamed to say that we had some weather last night and my tarp blew off and I got a little water in the oil. No big deal though, It showed the leaks well and I have already flushed it out.

I already have her put back in the car and most acc. attached. i will let the permatex sit until tomorrow before I finish it up and fire her off.

This car has been a Beast to say the least.

 

[puttster]

You might still be in trouble. Seems I read that tapping NPT too deep prevents the tapers on the threads from matching up, allowing a leak. Dunno what a permanent solution is but Permatex might not be it. I hope it is, though :tup:

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

The ONLY time you need to clean out NPT threads is NEVER. Unless you're using an NPT tap.

The white Permatex thread sealer is the best stuff to use in any thread sealing application. Put it on tighten and forget.

 

[steveo3318]

So the leaks have stopped as of now, It has seemed to solve the problem, she is running great right now. been running around in her all day and decided to do a full pull and she threw both the belts. alt and power steering, They were old anyway, I am about to go get some new better ones. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[puttster]

When I did that I blew a core plug.