Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Vaught
...I have never seen a properly installed graphite seal tear apart in 45 years of messing with Pontiac's.
Tom Vaught
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Hey wait a minute. They only brought out this new seal a year ago.
That's okay, in my
44 years of messing with Pontiac's I never had a rear seal tear apart either - until now.
I'm thinking that while the older organic rope based seal would burnish in and work, this new space age material does melt if the tension is pushed too high. I had lubed it up good, and this is probably why it made it through the engine break-in and several additional runs while I sorted things out. Assembly lube must have finally dissipated enough and the fun began. I use a short section of round stock with a 3-1/4" outside diameter to shape the seal. I always torque the rear main with the seal in place - then remove it and apply the thin silicone bead before torquing things back to spec. Nothing out of the ordinary was noticed.
Best only include one rope seal pair in the package, and at least the package was marked correctly. I believe that I would have recognized the fatter 400 rope if it had been mis-packaged. Regardless, I guess it's time to start unbolting everything and get the engine pulled out.
Question: With the mains pulled but the timing chain still on, is it possible to lift the rear of the crank far enough away with the rods still attached to fill the anti-rotation holes and install a BOP seal? Never had reason to try it before, and just trying to get around popping out all the pistons.