Hans writes...
> This mistakes on me! I guess I'll start stripping it down tonight.
He he...this is an easy thing to overlook. Last year I also pulled my
tranny twice, but it was because I re-used a $.50 circlip. :-(
> I know the rear main seal is leaking. Since I'm
>into the project this far, How much more work is it to replace the seal and
>what other parts should I order to complete this job without getting
>shipwright's disease?
>Hans Mentzen
>79 Spitfire ( with a misplaced copper washer)
Well...mine should have been real easy but I managed to make a project
out of it. :-) The flywheel needs to come off...you'll probably need
a way to "lock" the front crank pulley so you can break the flywheel
nuts free. I may have used something silly here like vicegrips or
such but whatever it was it worked.
The old seal is pretty much just be pried out but I got myself in
trouble tapping in the new one. I'd expected that the new seal would
stop at the flange but <whoops!> there is no flange! It just kept
going *in* until I realised that it was too far...and no practical way
to get it out again without destroying the seal. Off came the engine
backing plate followed by the aluminum rear oil seal housing.
Two or more bolts come up from the oil pan, BTW
Now I was able to tap the seal back into the correct position. Take
note of the old one before you do any of this...there may be a spec
for correct position but I missed it. The downside was that I
committed myself to scraping and replacing the housing gasket as well.
This was probably just as well actually...another potential source of
oil leaks.
When you reinstall the flywheel, definitely torque the bolts to 40 or
45 lbs <40 for cadmium plated> and use a threadlocker.
That about is as far as I can remember....Oh! Take the vicegrips off
the front pulley! :-)
Cheers!
Tom O'Malley in Southbridge Massachusetts
'74, '77 Spits
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