Okay... I admit it. I've never been able to stop '57 Chevy engine blocks from leaking oil at the rear main oil seal. Go ahead and laugh if you want. But, if you can help me, I'll take all the verbal abuse that may go with your advice.
The stock rope seals work for months, but never more than a year or two. Recently I've been installing the two-piece neoprene seal that's supposed to be a direct replacement for the rope. However, the last three of those (installed on different blocks) have leaked from the get-go. I just lived with it.
I'm now faced with another leaking rear seal in a "548" block that was just rebuilt by a local machine shop. They used a Fel-Pro one-piece oil pan gasket and a Best #3711X neoprene rear main oil seal. Sure enough, I've got a 4" diameter oil spot on the floor that forms beneath the clutch inspection cover after I return from a 20 mile drive. If I could tell the shop what to do differently, I would, but every friggin' '57 283 I've owned over the last 50 years has eventually been a "weeper" at the rear.
Here's some 2014 advice from a 55 - 57 Chevy website that I'll try unless dissuaded here. "When I install the 2 piece gaskets I rotate the parting lines slightly so they do not line up with the parting line of the block and cap. Then I clean the tips where the seal halves meet with brake cleaner then superglue the halves together around the crank and use Permatex sealer on the metal to metal machined surfaces of the cap and then install the cap and torque."
If any of you has a running '57 283 block that has not leaked oil at the rear main seal during the last few years, I'd sure appreciate hearing how you achieved that.
Thanks for any help you can give me. Really.
Ah, the heck with it. I'll just install one of those huge plastic diapers like they put underneath new cars.
Jerry
The stock rope seals work for months, but never more than a year or two. Recently I've been installing the two-piece neoprene seal that's supposed to be a direct replacement for the rope. However, the last three of those (installed on different blocks) have leaked from the get-go. I just lived with it.
I'm now faced with another leaking rear seal in a "548" block that was just rebuilt by a local machine shop. They used a Fel-Pro one-piece oil pan gasket and a Best #3711X neoprene rear main oil seal. Sure enough, I've got a 4" diameter oil spot on the floor that forms beneath the clutch inspection cover after I return from a 20 mile drive. If I could tell the shop what to do differently, I would, but every friggin' '57 283 I've owned over the last 50 years has eventually been a "weeper" at the rear.
Here's some 2014 advice from a 55 - 57 Chevy website that I'll try unless dissuaded here. "When I install the 2 piece gaskets I rotate the parting lines slightly so they do not line up with the parting line of the block and cap. Then I clean the tips where the seal halves meet with brake cleaner then superglue the halves together around the crank and use Permatex sealer on the metal to metal machined surfaces of the cap and then install the cap and torque."
If any of you has a running '57 283 block that has not leaked oil at the rear main seal during the last few years, I'd sure appreciate hearing how you achieved that.
Thanks for any help you can give me. Really.
Ah, the heck with it. I'll just install one of those huge plastic diapers like they put underneath new cars.
Jerry
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