Timing cover front seal?
 

When installing the front seal, is it ok to grease the seal with something? Oil, white grease, or ultra black ?

Thanks ,Dave

I do a very thin film of silicone as a 'just-in-case'. It's a press fit and the cover usually shaves paint off the seal. So the sealer is... 'just-in-case'.

Get your wood blocks and props ready before you put the silicone on the seal. I've got a short piece of a 4X4 that I rest the cover on right where the seal fits.

Clay

If the timing cover bore it loads into has any scratches in it , or the metal OD of the seal has no rubber like coating on it then I always apply a film of sealer so no unwanted oil migrated out that way ,
And yes, you should be driving it in with a big ass socket that neatly fits to the OD of the seals case , or a good sized flat section of a 2x4 or such .

If you hammer it in by rocking it
without being extremely careful you can egg shape the whole seal and then your back where you left off with the leaky old seal!

A thin coating of silicone will act as a lubricant on install and seal when cured

[QUOTE=steve25;6274017]
And yes, you should be driving it in with a good sized flat section of a 2x4 [QUOTE]


one of my FAVORITE tools.....have almost saved up enough to buy a new one....

Or the 2 hammer trick. One hammer hits the other that’s sitting on the seal. Never install a seal by hitting it directly. It will distort the seal.

Are you meaning the OUTSIDE of the seal, where it presses into the cover; or the INSIDE of the seal (rubber sealing lips) where it rides on the crankshaft?

YES , The outside of seal. I was going to smear some oil on the inside

I have a 3/8" thick piece of aluminum (square stock) that just covers the seal and has a very small drilled hole in the true center of the plate that is my "Hammer Contact Point".
Works great every time.

Tom V.

It does NOT work when the timing cover is still installed on the engine and you are trying to install the seal that way (crank snout is in the way). LOL

The 2 hammer trick works there too. The 1’st hammer usually sticks out further than the snout. So you strike the 1’st hammer vs swinging one hammer on the seal. You ruin the seal AND miss a few times marring the snout.

Most, if not all modern seals, i install dry on the outside. They have a sealing coating on them already.

We've always used a light coat of RTV on the outside.
 

As mentioned, it acts as a lubricant AND seals up any imperfections in the cover or the coating on the outside of the seal.

Make sure you clean off any excess RTV on the inside so it doesn't end up in the oil pan later on.

Good luck!

Two different seals available. One is only coated with not much more than a rust preventive and Ultra Grey works great. The other seal has a fairly thick black rubber coating on it that acts like a really good seal without any additional help. If you coat this rubber coated seal with silicone you will probably get to see the seal slowly wick all the way back out after it is installed.

Front seal disaster story
 

I put a fresh 428 rebuild in a '63 Ventura. When it had about 100 miles on, we started for central Canada. I stopped for gas in northern Ohio. I raised the hood to oil dripping off most of the area around the radiator & bottom of the hood. My rebuild kit had a pressed SS sleeve that was to go over the balancers shaft to cover the groove that wears in from many miles of the seal rubbing. Good idea........except that the SS part was too short and finally took the new seal out by the time I had gone 300 miles. So......I had to replace the seal in the parking lot of a gas station near Toledo. Good thing for me it was in a town and middle of the day......and that I had thought to bring as many tools as I did.

Do todays rebuild kits include the SS seal surface replacer part.???

PJH

Was the sleeve too short,or was the seal not driven in all the way as I have seen that on used motors that I have bought!

I've used many "Speedy-Sleeves", from a variety of manufacturers--Fel-Pro and Timken, to name two of several.

Never had a problem. Came close, once.

I did learn that after a zillion miles, when the seal has almost worn thru the repair sleeve, that the grooved sleeve has the potential to tear up the seal when it finally breaks thru.

After I got the front seal in, I picked up the cover and there was a thin flexible spring on the floor. Does that go under the lip of the seal on the inside??

Most have a tension spring inside the lip.

Clay

Glad you spotted that spring that needs to be on the seal.

Tom V.

Thanks , I was only about 721/2 % sure. LOL