I dropped the crank by maybe 3/16" or more. If it tilts forward it hangs up on the thrust bearing. I take my hat off to those that can do it with the tranny in place. What was really tough was having the string slip off the flange and on to the smaller part of the crank. When this happened, over and over, I had to start from scratch. When I finally was successful, there was an initial drag and some trouble getting the seal to conform to the space. After the first inch, there was very little drag. That is because of the space created at the top of the circle. My seal is one of those new ones made by Graphtite and marketed by Best gasket. It is a teflon type material in a dense weave. They are supposed to be very good.
Trying to put the pan back on, my new gasket set had cork ends instead of rubber. The pan would not go forward enough to seat with the cork gasket. That is because there wasn't enough space between the cork and the motor mount shield.
