David.....
The piece of felt was someone's attempt to improve the factory's
"lack-of-rear-main" seal. There's a paper gasket between the aluminum piece
and the block, but that's all.
Moss's rear seal has worked well for us but one has to follow the
installation directions very carefully.
The front seal idea has been around for many years; I was fitting them back
in the seventies. It's very effective and requires only that the installer
be careful to make sure the pulley does not have a groove worn in it from
the old rope seal. If the pulley sealing surface is not absolutely smooth,
buy and fit a "Speedi-sleeve" of suitable size - available from all good
auto parts houses.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: dmeadow@juno.com <dmeadow@juno.com>
To: mg-t@autox.team.net <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, April 13, 1998 6:37 AM
Subject: Rear and Front main oil seals
>T Listers:
>
>I'm in process of rebuilding my MGTD engine and I've progressed as far as
>replacing the rear main oil seal.
>
>I'm following the method in Horst Schach's book of refitting the crank
>over and over using machinist's blue to check the clearance of the upper
>seal.
>
>One curiosity. When I disassembled it, the upper seal had a rather large
>piece of felt kind of wedged underneath it, so it would also wipe the
>crank. Obviously, this was meant to reduce leakage out the rear of the
>engine. Anyone seen this setup before? It must not work, or everyone
>would be doing it, right? From my books it appears that there is no
>seal material used beyond the metal fittings. Is this correct?
>
>I've heard enough controversy about Moss' rear main oil seal conversion
>to avoid it, particularly for $200. However, has anyone had any
>experience with the front seal conversion? It is much less expensive at
>about $10 and may be worth a try.
>
>David Littlefield
>Houston, TX
>'62 MGA MkII
>'51 MGTD
>'88 Jaguar XJ-S
>
>
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