Rear main seal help

[tta1401]

Well I am dropping the tranny tomorrow and putting a different one in. Well I want to do the rear main seal. I did a search on how to do this and it seems to me I have to raise the motor up which makes sense. I also read that if you drop the tranny, you can unbolt the pan and it falls out. So which one is correct? Also, do I have to pull the crossover pipe? By the way, I do have the stage poly motor mounts but I don't think that will bring the engine high enough.

TIA,

 

[milesengineer2]

Ive had my pan off twice and have not had to raise the motor to do it. The trick is to get the pistons in the #1 & #2 cylinders up towards the top of the cylinder by spinning the crank. l. This will give you enough room to work the pan around the oil pump and the rest of the crank.

BTW you do have to drop the crossover. Not a big deal though.


HTH

 

[Razor]

Get the pressurized RTV from NAPA and dont use the press in rubber pins. Clean all surfaces so the silicone will stick and use the pressurized silicon in place of the two rubbr strips. Yes install the rear main as normal, the trick for no leak is to fill the cavity on the rear main cap edges till it oozes out.

HTH

Felpro rear main works great..

 

[tta1401]

So I fill where the rubber strips go in? I guess it will make sense when I get it apart. BTW, are there any gaskets that I have to get for the crossover pipe? Never had it out before.

 

[tta1401]

BTW, thanks for your help guys!

 

[milesengineer2]

No gaskets, flange fitting. When you reinstall make sure you tighten the bolts on the crossover equally, or it will never seal correctly.

BTW: The way Razor described installing the rear main works!!

HTH

 

[tta1401]

On the crossover thing, is it a nut and bolt holding it together or is it just a nut and the bolt is already attached?

Thanks,

 

[milesengineer2]

The flange on the header has two nuts welded to it. Will be self explanatory once you get in there and start tearing it apart. All you have to do is line it up and bolt it in, really simple.

 

[Razor]

Get some hi-temp copper anti seize for the exhuast system bolts your removing, cuase if they ever have to come apart again, this will aide this issue. You have have to spray enetrant on the bolts overnite depending on rust/corrosion,mileage..let em soak, they come out like butter.

Julio

 

[tta1401]

Good Deal!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I thought it was a nut and bolt thing but since it is just a bolt deal, should be alot easier. I know it hasn't been off for over 2 years so hopefully it won't be so bad. Thanks again!

 

[Gokou]

Also, make sure you pick up some Anerobic sealant for the flange surface where the cap meets the block.

Personally, I used the rubber side seals and pins with good luck.

If you go to my webpage in my sig, I have pictures and a walkthrough of how I changed mine.

 

[TTA197]

Milesengineer, you said you didn't have to raise the engine to remove the oil pan. Do you have a TTA or a GN? I'm just curious because I did mine a few months ago and I couldn't get the pan off without lifting the engine a bit. I still have a small drip coming from the rear main seal so I'll have to try it one more time. This time I will try your trick to remove the pan without lifting the engine.

By the way TTA1401, I used the rubber side seals. I think thats why I still have a small leak. Just my opinion, but I won't use the side seals again.

 

[milesengineer2]

I have a TTA, original motor mounts and all. Just have to work it around quite a bit. If I take my time I can get the pan off in about 35 minutes.

Try Razor's trick with the silicone, makes total sense and doubles the sealing.

 

[tta1401]

Thanks for the replies. I am still shady on one thing. Do I use the side rubber seals and not the pins? I am guessing I would use the side rubber seals and then I would inject the RTV where the pins would go. Correct?

Thanks,

 

[Razor]

Rear main seal kit comprises of 4 items. two pins and two half moon seals. You pitch the two pins..and use pressurized RTV in its place..make sure the surfaces are oil free if not silicon wont stick

the anerobic sealant..cant hurt. ive done 7-8 cars and no issues using as I described.

lastly..CORK oil pan gasket..if not..dont ask why..it will leak. No silicon on the cork..just gasket dressing.

HTH

Julio

 

[tta1401]

Well I got to it but how do I get the cap off? I don't want to hurt anything.

 

[milesengineer2]

First of all dont try to pry at the bearing.

Take the two bolts out of the main cap.
Try to work the cap back and forth with your hands, probably wont work but worth a try.
Take a screwdriver and put it in one of the bolt holes and work it back and forth, just be careful not to nick a bearing.
Do that from one bolt hole to another til it comes off. Will be very tight just have to work at it.


HTH

 

[Gokou]

Originally posted by Razor

lastly..CORK oil pan gasket..if not..dont ask why..it will leak. No silicon on the cork..just gasket dressing.

HTH

Julio

Trust him on the cork pan gasket. I used a Fel-Pro 1-piece rubber pan gasket when I did mine (almost identical to the stocker, only blue instead of black), and it has a small crack in it now at one of the back corners causing a very small drip. Wish I would have used the cork!

 

[TTA197]

I used a black neoprene gasket that was made by Victor (sold at Napa or Carquest). This is much thicker than the Felpro (I've tried using Felpro with poor results also). Anyway, I've used this Victor gasket on my '87 GN and now on the TTA with good results.
By the way if you do use this gasket it goes on dry (put nothing on it). Just my opinion hope it helps. Nicholas.

 

[tta1401]

Well I got it done. I went ahead and got the fel-pro for now because I have to get it back together and no one had the cork one or at least they gave me the wrong one. Thanks for the tips though! The sucky things was is I dropped the tranny on the TTA so I could put my Turbo T tranny in my TTA which has a trans-brake in it. Really need that since I can't build any boost off the line. The VSS in the TTA tranny wouldn't come out for anything. I even broke it but got it bake together. I guess I will make another thread on that. Oh well. I guess it will have to wait.

Milesengineer2,

Did you have to pull out the oil tube and screen to get the pan off your way? That is the only way I could see doing it your way once I got the pan off. I went ahead and took the flex plate off to get the pan off.