Try using the stainless steel retaining strip from a discarded windshield wiper blade as a shim between the rope seal and the block and main bearing cap as a spacer. I've repaired several chronic leaky rope seals that way. If you have the engine out of the vehicle on a stand, stick the spacer into the bottom of the groove with some high temperature epoxy.
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!