Quote:
Originally Posted by Verdoro 68
My block is a 3" main 400 so all good there.
I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyway just to make sure I'm not making too much work for myself. What's the best way to approach the seal replacement?
I have the assembled block on the stand with everything but the pan and the rear cap on. Feels like a short block disassembly/reassembly while keeping everything in exactly the order it came out is the general approach.
1) The front cover/water pump/fuel pump off
2) Valve train removed
3 The timing set removed
4) Rod caps removed, pistons pushed down in the bore
5) Main caps removed
6) Pull the crank
7) Pack the seal in the block
8) Put everything back where it came from
I've heard of folks using a "sneaky pete" tool to the thread the block side of the seal in while the crank is in place, but how does that make sure the seal is packed appropriately?
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Don't waste your time with the chinese fingers, and trying to pull the rope seal into the block. If you want the second seal to have a fighting chance, pull the crank, and install it like Pontiac did when they built it. The chinese finger tool may work 50 % of the time, if your lucky. Then you have to pack both ends in, and push short pieces in the ends. You're pretty much adding a lot of failure points. Any time you save will be eaten up doing it twice.
I really wanted the chinese finger to work, and did everything to facilitate it, but I'd never recommend someone use one, the failure rate was too high.
I'm speaking from experience of trying to cheat the process when I worked in a dealership on flat rate, where time is money. I even made a funnel out of copper tubing to try to form the seal as it gets pulled into the groove. No matter what I did I never felt confident that I made a successful repair.