All, Putting the 73 GS 350 motor back together after refreshing the gaskets and stem seams with a felpro kit. 1) I've ordered the TA front and rear crank seals, but have a question on how to get the old oil seal in the front cover out?? Looks to be the rope one, looks like it has a flange/lip on it thats holding it in, but for the life of me I can;t figure out how to get it out 2) What is the procedure for pressing the new neop. front seal in? 3) With the engine on the stand I have the L side head on with a new blue head gasket - but the head bolts are only abit more than finger tight. I tilted the motor so that the L head was pointed abit down and was scraping the oil pan gasket surface on the bottom of the block. I noticed that the lifters started to drain out and i had some oil pooling (2-3 tablespoons or so) where the block meets the head right on the underside of the head gaskets. I think that some of the oil may have seeped to the gasket surface between head and block since it wasn't tightened up. If there is oil on the head gaskets do I have a problem? I flipped the motor back upright as soon as I caught that.
Remove the front seal by using either a seal remaoval tool or a flat blade screwdriver to pry the original rope seal retainer out. Just a tap with a hammer will pop the retainer out. A real easy way is to dig the rope seal out with a small screwdriver or awl, flip the cover over so the front is facing up, take a punch or screwdriver and catch the edge of the retainer and tap it out, no damage done to the cover. Flip the cover over so the engine side is facing up, check the fit of the new seal in the cover, I've seen some covers where the seal drops right in, others need to be lightly tapped in with a seal driver. If yours go in loose, I would put a light film of silicone on the od of the seal , put the seal in, then restake the cover to hold it in place. Remove the cylinder head and clean the oil from the gasket and head and deck surface. You want clean , dry surfaces for your head gaskets. Also, make sure you don't put the head gasket on upside down, if you do, it will expose a water passage at the center outside edge of the block that will leak when you fill the engine with water. Jim Burek
thanks jim, i'll dig that seal out tomorrow wasn;t sure if oil on the gasket surface would absorb and then create problems. going to pull it off tomorrow and see what I've got. gaskets are marked with an "UP" so i'm assuming that i should be seeing that when i place them on the deck of the block
