I am preparing a 235 from 1953 to replace the cracked 216 in my 53 half-ton. The 235 has been leaking from the rear, and since I have it on a stand at the moment it seemed like a good time to replace the rear seal and check the main bearings. I removed all the main caps so the crank was easy to lift a little and the new seal went in nicely. I torqued the front caps down, trimmed the new upper half a little proud, torqued the rear cap, and then plastigaged the main caps one at a time, leaving the rear main for the last. By the time I took the rear cap off the new upper half of the rope seal had already retracted back up the groove just a little.
I had ordered two sets of rope seals from a supplier here in Sweden. My "new" seals are some sort of NOS made by National Seal (part number 5419!) Today I took off the rear bearing cap again just to see what would happen if I tried to push the new upper seal deeper into the groove, to compact it, and it went in at least an eighth of an inch on both ends. It was still easy to turn the crank even with the cap back in place.
So the first question is, should I replace the upper rope again, leave a little more excess, and force it into the groove with the crank in place?
The second question is, while removing the front bearing cap I seem to have ruined the gasket that was heavily glued between the cap and the timing cover base plate. How can I reinstall that bearing cap without removing the harmonic balancer and all that paraphanelia? I have the extra gaskets, can I take the proper one and use just the lower half between the cap and that plate, and a little gasket goop?
Many of these moments are first timers for me...
Karl
