Crank end seal advise please

Johnny,
The front seal is a one piece seal. If it is a cleveland you may be able to install it without removing the front cover. If I remember correctly windsor seals install from the inside of the timing cover.
Good luck,
Forest

Johnny,

Is it the seal between the oil pan and the bottom of the timing cover that you are referring to?

John

Hi guys,Yes, it's the seal between the oil pan and the bottom of the timing cover. If it's one piece this means the harmonic balancer has to come off. Is this possible with the engine in situ?

Johnny

If it is the seal between the oil pan and the bottom of the timing cover then just pull the oilpan and replace the gaskets. I replaced mine with a one piece (Milodon I think) reuseble one (see pic). Should be easy to clean up the area where the gaskets meet if you use the original gaskets/rubber seal.

If it's the front crank seal you'll, as forest mention, have to pull the balencer and the timing cover, as the seal insert from the inside of the cover.

Kristian

Kristian's right, Johnny- you can simply drop the front of the pan down a few inches without actually removing it, remove the harmonic balancer for access and replace the front pan seal from the passenger seat. The two ends up in the corners where the pan, block and seal all come together are the tricky areas to get sealed but it can successfully be done w/engine in situ.
THe front CRANK seal can also be R & R-ed with engine in place, without disturbing the pan, as long as no one has accidently installed a 351-W front crank seal. Coincidently, the Windsor front crank seal will also fit the Cleveland engine, but it lacks the 351-C's front flange for easy R & R. So in that case the whole front plate must be removed to get at the Windsor seal. With a 351-C seal, wedging a flat screwdriver between the bad seal's flange and the front plate will easily pop it out.

Are you sure it is the pan gasket and not the crank seal that is leaking?

I am not exactly sure where the oil is coming from Forest, but it's at the front and quite bad. It's nice to know it can be done in situ. I like the idea of the one piece seal in Kristians picture.

Thank you all for your help. I will let you know how we get on!

Johnny