Fellow Hotrodders, I have a problem and am looking for insight and info. I have a 1957 chevy 235 inline 6 and am trying to find a replacement neoprene rear main seal for it. I am told that felpro has "discontinued" this seal as of 6-6-2014. WHY you ask?, (as did I of the federal-mogul tech rep) to which he replied,"I'm not sure, your above my pay grade". He was nice enough and tried to help but came up with nothing except a rope seal which I had already tried and could not get down into the small 'V' grove that the neoprene seal had been removed from. Here is the question. Has anyone found or used a different seal in these and what might work? The felpro number is, or was BS13363. Just wondering if a small block or big block 2 piece seal will work? or a ford or chry or.... any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You in advance.
If your engine is torn down, there is one piece Ford diesel rear main which can be installed but requires machining to the block. Can't remember which site the article was on but if you Google the procedure it, will show up.
Most of the 235 rear seals leaked. Back in the day it was common to run them a quart low and they didn't leak as much. To get the rope seal in the groove loosen all the main caps. Using a Chinese finger trap type tool you pull the rope seal around as you have someone turn the engine in the direction your pulling. Its possible to use a length of stripped copper electrical wire pushed through the center of the rope seal in place of the finger trap tool. after you get the seal in the block tighten the front main caps. The cut the seal a bit below the block tamp it flush and install the rear main cap. Leave the copper wire in the center of the top seal. It wont hurt anything.
My '60 Edsel has a straight 6 and the rear main seal leaked. I bought an 8 ounce bottle of "Blue Devil Rear Main Sealer" and dumped it in with the oil. I'll be damned if the leak didn't stop within a week. It comes with a money back guarantee (it was $15 plus tax at Advance) so I bought it figuring I would be contacting them for a refund in a few weeks. (They give you 60 days.) Anyway, give that a try before you start taking things apart because you have nothing to lose. Good luck....
If you consider it "easy" to change a rope seal with the crank in the car, and have it not leak, then you probably have some skill, that you are too humble to mention.
Some years ago i turned the OD of the crank flange to fit a one piece lip seal that more or less fet the block and cap. I believe the customer used a die grinder to square up the groove. I saw another block had been bored at the seal location to allow a similar one piece lip seal that was the correct ID for the Chevy flange. If you are looking for one piece seals, that's what you should be looking for. Don't worry about what some of them were used for. Just Google "Lip Seals". Both of these installations were pictured and explained in the 12 port News at the time. long time ago.
I did a lot of them back in the day. Y block fords where notorious leakers. We loosened all the main caps and that let the crank not be so tight. The hardest part was removing the old rope seal from the block. Sometimes the mains where very loose. Rather than turn the crank and use undersize bearings. We filed the parting surfaces of the main bearings and added shim stock between the bearing outer shell and main caps. Poor boys had some poor ways. But it sometimes worked very well. Im talking about $35 to $50 vehicles. We didn't spend money on them. Just bought them and drove them into the ground. Back then 1960,s a vehicle with 70,000 miles or ten years old was considered worn out or worth almost nothing. Some junkyards made you pay a fee to get them to take a vehicle. My first 57 chevy a 4 door 265 stick cost $40.
"Poor ways" or know how ? Unrelated to the thread but on topic to your reply. I begged my Dad not to let my Moms 63 Nova go to the wrecker. The car was spotless. I didn't car that a rod was hanging out the side of the block. My Dad would have been money ahead if he gave it to me because he paid to have it taken away along with a fresh tank to the top of fuel my Mom got just 1 mile earlier.
first and foremost, thank you for all the help and info. the engine was torn down for an overhaul after 832 miles of life from the last overhaul due to a bad mechanical fuel pump that fill the crankcase with gas and wiped out the crank and bearings. I had a friend that had a 2 piece rubber seal. I installed it and have assembled the engine and installed it. tonight we got it started and it runs great. no knocks and 45 psi of oil pressure. I drilled and tapped the block for full flow oil filtration and installed an oil filter adapter. while it was a bit hair raising to be drilling holes in the block and oil galley, installing plugs in oil passages, it was well worth it as now ALL the oil going to the engine is passing through a spin on modern oil filter. I also replaced the road draft tube with a machined aluminum plug with orings for sealing and drilled it for a pcv valve, another good thing to do. oh ...and I also now have an electric fuel pump so the crank case will not fill with gas again. ever! I will be building a 282 cid "stroker " motor for this car this winter and all these improvements will used on that engine also. I already have the stroked crankshaft, the Chrysler 198cid slant 6 connecting rods and the Buick 231 turbo pistons, just waiting on the 261 block and deciding what to have the cam ground to for lift and duration. thinking somewhere around .500 lift and 275 degrees of duration, but that is subject to change. should be a fun motor when its done. I will be machining that block for the 1 piece rear main seal. I have ordered a best gaskets two piece seal to give back to my friend so he has one for his future use. again I can't thank all of you enough for the help and info. happy safe hotroddin' to all!!
Does this work for you: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...RitLooX98104tkJ7sQV3PR9vQMqrK6so_EaAivt8P8HAQ don
I got one off ebay when I resealed the 235 that will be going in my 37,I looked everywhere trying to find one.
I got the rubber seal from Best Gasket but if it's gonna be a pain in the ass to get it out I'd rather use the blue devil till rebuild time
This is maybe a bit off-topic, but I'm noticing a very small oil leak coming from between the engine and trans in my 53 Bel Air. Having heard about these rear main seals, I had assumed it was that. Now I'm finding my clutch is slipping, and I'm wondering if oil may be coating the clutch. Does that sound likely? I've never had this apart, so I don't know what's going on in there. Thanks!
Let me ask this...did you guys use an anaerobic sealant, an anaerobic gasket maker or black rtv on the cap? The sealant is $34, the gasket maker is $14 and I have the rtv (well, Right Stuff actually but it's the same for the most part).
Does the Chevy 292 share the same leaky rear main that the 235 suffers from? I think I have the same problem on my avatar (41 Chevy with Chevy 292 in it). It leaks when I park it after a ride.
The 216 / 235 rear main leak was a Chevy designed feature to let you know there's still oil in the pan.
I helped that idiot Doc Frohmader do that about 7 or 8 years ago for his Webrodder series. all that info is stored but i see the video here pretty well covers it. It actually sealed very well.
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