[Verdoro 68]

The saga continues.

I misread his email and he said normally he'd recommend polishing the serrations, but since my crank is on the low end of the tolerance he didn't want to do that. Instead, he recommended I sand material from the end of the seal (rather than the radius) to get .020 preload, so I did.

I sent pics of the seal fitment to Wade and he said I was on the right track so I proceeded to button everything back up. I put a tiny smear of sealer under the rear main cap between the block and cap and a tiny dab on the ends of the seal. I ended up installing the seal seam with the cap/block rather than offsetting it.

After a 5 hours tilted on the stand, I've still got a slow drip off the back of the crank The pan seal and the cap to block are bone dry, so it must be the seal. The oil is collected on bottom of the flange of the crank hub like it was before. It's not a huge leak, maybe one or two drips over the course of the 5 hours, but I'd obviously prefer not to see any leaks.

I cleaned everything off really well and will keep it angled for a while longer with the hopes that what I saw was just residual oil, but I doubt it. I know some folks have had some drips via the tip test only to have it seal up once it's running and in the car, so I'm wondering if I just roll with it and hope for the best. Frustrating.

[HWYSTR455]

It's true, have seen it before as well, tip or other tests it may leak slightly, and once heat cycling a few times from running it doesn't leak in use.

I don't offset the parting lines of seal either, have never used the 1 piece.

I like the rope-type seals and have install of those down to an art. But those are not recommended with a crank that has no serrations.

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[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

It's true, have seen it before as well, tip or other tests it may leak slightly, and once heat cycling a few times from running it doesn't leak in use.

I don't offset the parting lines of seal either, have never used the 1 piece.

It's definitely the seal. I folded a blue shop towel and wedged it between the crank flange and the rear main. Came back in about an hour and it had wicked some oil.

I checked the journal again with my dial bore and didn't pick up on it being out of round. My guess is this leak has to do with the crank diameter being at the bottom of the specs for the seal, or maybe it's just oil seeping past the serrations like Wade said. The only other thing I can think of is maybe it's getting past the anti-rotation holes? I filled them level to the cap as best I could.

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I like the rope-type seals and have install of those down to an art. But those are not recommended with a crank that has no serrations.

Not sure what to do here. Now is the time to make this as right as it's going to be. I have a graphite seal on hand but to confirm, those ARE NOT recommended for cranks with serrations, correct?

[Formulajones]

Oil will seep past the serrations when the engine is tipped. Generally you don't want to run those serrations with the BOP seals unless they are polished to some degree, so they don't eat at the seal over time. Those seals are designed for a smooth surface. The serrations are there for the rope seals, to keep them lubricated.