rear main sear replacement

tsegeela said:

My question is what the hell is the left engine to transmission strut? It says that that must de disconnected but I cannot find a picture of what it is and cannot think of what it would be.

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It's like a brace.

If you look between the starter and the engine block, you'll see a length of metal that bolts into the engine block at the top end and the transmission at the bottom. I always found it easier to remove the starter to get at the upper bolt (on the block).

A little more info assuming this is a 318 or 360. I have done this twice on 2 different trucks. I ran into problems on my first time because the motor mounts were worn and I had a hard time to get the oil pan back up because of the cross member. I had to turn the crankshaft by hand (using the bolt at the front of the engine) to get the counter weights out of the way so the oil pan would go up. I also screwed up the oil pan gasket and had to drop it again and do it right.

Watch out when you are scraping the old gasket surface. The front 2 bolts go into the timing chain cover and that's aluminum (softer than the block).

Good luck and there's a lot of knowledge here to help you if you get stuck. The first time I did it I had to come in the house and login in here to ask questions.

Ted

Just did mine a few months back ('87 318 2wd). If you even suspect you have a rope seal in your engine you will need a few special tools. To get the rope seal out (amazing they can leak sooo bad but stick to the block so well!) you need something that can screw into the rope so you can pull it out. The kit I got from NAPA was just a screw eye but the part from the threads to the "eye" was about 4 inches long. Just screw it into the rope far enough to grab some material but not so far that you are trying to screw into the block (about one inch) and then pull down and the seal should come out. Clean the passages as best you can. To put the new neoprene split seal (the ONLY way to go with a new rear main) the kit had a "t"-handle rod and on hte end of it were several thin wire loops all bunched together. You thread the wire loop up over the crankshaft until they are sticking out the other side and then put the new upper part of the seal into the wire loops and pull the seal into place.

Make sure you put them in the correct way. To help with the oil pan gasket...use some fishing line (or thin thread) and loosley tie the four corners on the gasket to the pan. Once you get a coulple of bolts started you can cut the line and pull it free. If you have problems (assuming the four piece 318 oil pan gasket set up) getting the pan into place with the front "U" seal (for the timing cover) in the pan, leave it out and you will gain a little clearance to slid it into place and you can easily replace the "U" seal once the pan is slid all the way forward.

Cheers

Chris

As cooper said, get the crank counterweights into the block and out of the way, especially for re-assembly. I also like to rebove the brake line support on the crossmember, it usually gets in the way.
Also, I have done the rear seal more times than I'd like to remember and I have found that the best way to re-install the pan is first, put a small amout of 3M Weatherstrip adhesive on the rear pan seal, just enough that you can put it up in position on the block and have it stay there. Then, put a tiny dab of RTV on the same seal where it will contact the side gaskets. Next, put the adhesive on the block for the side gaskets, then put the gaskets on and make sure they stay.
Now, mount the front seal to the pan, again using RTV where it contacts the side gaskets. Then just carefully put the pan up and bolt it up.
I drove myself crazy before I figured out the counterweight trick and the use of the adhesive. When I used to put the gaskets on the pan, instead of the block, I always boogered them up trying to install them, but now its cake!