MG T-ABC

Hello guys/gals,

Two questions:

1. Can the TC oil pan be dropped without difficulty while the engine is still mounted in place?
2. I plan to get at the engine rear seal to replace with rope seal... can this be done without pulling the engine out?

Thanks!
Jim Glueck
Solon, Ohio

I dropped my sump with the engine in place. I think you can fit a new rope seal with the engine in.

Hi Jim,
The TC sump can be removed with the engine in the car. It is made easier (but not necessary I think) by removing the clamp bolt from the steering drop-arm and pulling the steering arm off the splined shaft. DO NOT HAMMER THE STEERING ARM OFF as that might make divots in the steering worm or peg!

There is a rope seal at the front but the rear seal is a scroll (which is meant to wind the oil in faster than it can leak out). The cork seal which fits into the groove in the rear main bearing is just a continuation of the sump gasket. I have not heard of any rope seal modifications to replace the rear scroll. There are lip seal mods for the rear. In fact I used to make them from 1988 until about 2001. I sent a couple to the USA and soon afterwards Moss Motors started making a similar seal kit which I believe tries to be easier to fit at the expense of not working so well. I think they have been recently improved. This is my FIRST contribution since joining TODAY! so I will TRY to attach an image of places to seal so oil doesn't leak out .... Whether your engine is original, fitted with my seal or fitted with a Moss seal. I can see "upload attachment" so I will click on that after "submit" as it is not "live" at the moment"

I hope you are successful in sealing the rear of the crank.

Bob Schapel

Thank you so much for your speedy reply. Not having to pull the engine out would make the job so much easier!

Jim Glueck, Solon Ohio

Thank you Bob for your detailed and informative response. I hope my garage floor will eventually return back to its normal appearance!

There is no rope seal at the rear of the engine, sorry, there is a cork strip that helps seal the sump at the rear. This may be leaking, but I suspect that the actual leak may be the alloy slinger arrangement at the rear that Bob speaks about. The Moss kit is one way to "attempt" to stop the leak, the other is to closely examine the original slinger arrangement, make sure there is no damage to the various components of this and carefully reinstalling it with minimal clearances so that it works as it is supposed to. That would be leaving a couple drops on shut down when it stops slinging oil back into the sump. That is considered to be about as good as it gets.

"As good as it gets" would be good enough for me. Thanks Steve... I remember you responded to a previous issue of mine.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned one other thing you can do while you have your oil pan off which is to either remove, shorten by an inch or so, or drill holes in the drain pipe from the rear main bearing bottom cap.

This is an excerpt from an article by David Edgar (http://www.mg-tabc.org/library/ChevyRearSeal.pdf) describing the reasoning:

"Drain Tube"
"I elected to completely remove the drain tube coming out of the bearing cap but I am not sure that is necessary. If you do leave the tube in, at least cut a notch about half way up on the back side (away from the rotating crank counterweight). There is some theory that if the end of the tube is submerged in oil, that oil may not drain fast enough and fill the area behind the seal. Cutting a notch would eliminate this possibility. Removing the tube completely is an option as well. I heard the tube was suppose to prevent oil foaming from oil being hit by the counterweight. I donʼt seem to experience any foaming with tube removed. In fact MG removed the tube part way through the MGA engine run to reduce leakage as well. Do what you feel most comfortable with here."

Gene

I'm curious about this. I had a rear main seal go in my previous truck, and it turned my manual transmission into an automatic transmission (well *sort* of). It has my curiosity going as to why pretty much every one of these cars one way or another appears to have rear main seal issues, but the dry sump clutch being fouled is never ever mentioned, not once. MG black wizardry?

Gene, I left the drain tube out entirely and did drill out its hole in the main cap a bit. The idea was that the oil coming off the rear main into the drainage trough might drop back into the sump a little quicker. I note that in MGA circles a factory fix for the rear main seal leak of certain years was to drill a couple extra holes in the main cap to facilitate drainage.

Kam, I suspect that if you get enough oil coming off the rear main into the bell housing eventually some of it will get onto the clutch lining. MG's are not immune to an oil soaked clutch given enough time.

Kam, as long as you keep the drip hole clear (make sure the cotter pin is free to wiggle) not a lot of oil is going to be able to remain in the bellhousing area. When the flywheel is spinning the wind in the bellhousing will force most of the oil to the edges of the bellhousing where it will eventually run down the sides to the bottom to leak out the hole.

I had a fairly serious leak into the bell housing at one point, and the clutch appeared to stay dry for the reasons Gene stated.