[lust4speed]

For those of us that were experienced installing the old asbestos rope seal, the Best Teflon/Graphite seal requires a different technique.

After the Best Teflon/Graphite seal was brought to market, I installed the Best rope seal like I did the old seals, and I was rewarded with having the Teflon seal melt and drip down on the driveway during the initial running on the break-in stand. Now I lay the seal in the groove and make sure I don't pack or try and compress more length in the groove. I have great results simply setting the rope in the groove and rolling it down in place without any additional loading. I switched over to the one-piece BOP Viton seal but we have an engine that was line bored way out of spec and the one-piece didn't work out. This Teflon/Graphite install was only a few days ago and was the first in a couple of years I have done with the Best rope seal.

A few other things is the razor knife included with the kit cut the seal like going through warm butter. With the asbestos rope we could go through a half dozen razor blades and still have frayed ends when done. Best includes a little spacer that makes the cut maybe .010" above the block and cap surfaces, and they say to not apply any sealant on the rope ends and only to the cap/block mating surfaces. They also request the rope be lubricated with assembly lube or engine oil but not grease. I need to call Wade and see what problems they have found when grease is used. After getting accustomed to negligible crank drag with the BOP Viton seal, going back to this rope seal reminded me of the extra drag encountered with the rope.

This was also the first time I installed the 1/16" diameter roll pin in the cap to limit seal movement as the directions wanted. Seems strange but guess they wouldn't include the pin in the kit if it didn't help limit movement.