Long title but that's my question. Now the why for my question. My truck had a documented 43,000 miles when purchased back in '13. It's now at 59k miles. In the past very few years and less than 10,000 miles I've installed two Best Gasket rear main rope seals. The last was in February '23. Now 5,000 miles later the rear main is leaking to the point clutch chatter has made the truck almost undriveable at least on the initial start. Taking off in second or third with a lot of slipping the clutch helps.

On the last seal replacement I adjusted the main clearances to the book minimums, torqued by the book and installed the rope seal using all the expert guidance I could find. The sealing area of the crank looks new. I "thought" I'd licked the oil leak beast. Nope!

So now I'm toying with pulling the rear main cap and trying to use a hardwood dowel to drive the top rope in and add a bit of rope along with a dab of sealer to tighten the seal. I've read of such techniques being used in the past.

The other more likely route "If" I can find a original NOS rope seal is to ditch the Best Gasket seal and go with the NOS asbestos seal. I've found a few NOS seals, but don't know how to tell if they're what I want. Would a NOS seal from the 50's or 60's be white or have any other visual hints it's actually what I'm looking for?

Thanks in advance.

RonR

RonR


1951 3600 with Clark flatbed, T5, 4.10 rear
1970 340 Duster
1990 5.0 V8 Miata (1990 Mustang Gt Drivetrain)
1964 CJ5