Rope seal

[jddevel]

Advice please. Starting to fit the rope seals to the sump and timing cover. What is the easiest way as it appears that once the timing cover is fitted the crank pulley is likely to damage it as it's tapped on? They also appear to be longer than actually required so are they fitted and then trimmed.

[i.thomson]

they are not a good design, not by modern standards anyway, but they work at least as well as other systems of their time. Indeed it always surprises me that they work as well as they do but that probably says more about my ignorance than anything else. People have tried using modern lip seals at the front, indeed I have one on one of my engines, but they come with their own problems, not least the probable need for some machining and/or the use of more silicon than I like to see near oil systems. The crankcase/sump line not being on the crank centre line causes problems for fitting both types especially as the fitting of both front and back seals must be done carefully, quickly and at the same time. The front seal needs to be slighly oversize as it crushes on fitting. This is what leads to the possible damage to the seal when fitting the pully. I always expect it but have managed so far. Fitting the pully before the sump is a possibility but my heart is always in my mouth when tightening the sump bolts as they always feel to me to be liable to do damage to a fragile, expensive sump as the seal crushes into place. So far I have got away with it though. I've probably done little more than confirm your anxieties so I'll just wish you good luck.

Ian

[jddevel]

Thanks Ian. The trials and tribulations- and fun of T motoring. Cheers Jan

[Eric Worpe]

The rope seals provided in some gasket kits are too large, measuring some 10mm X 10mm. The correct rope seal dimension is 8mm X 8mm, these can be found on ebay under graphited gland packing rope seals. You might need to buy a 1 m length and cut to size with a sharp scalpel leaving the ends slightly proud when installed.