Oil Leaks

 

Everyone knows that old engines leak oil. Some leak worse than others because of inadequate gaskets, poorly designed matting surfaces but most of all main seals. The only way to seal the crank-shaft was with rope seals or packings. If you remember, we used to take a rope seal and soak it in oil over night before we installed it. The outcome no matter what, either right away or a little latter the damn thing leaked.

 

In our new flathead motors we fixed that. We designed a rear main that incorporates a modern lip seal, and in the front you can use a lip seal in the cover. Here is the only problem.

 

On the original surface, designed for a rope seal, look carefully at the seal surface on the rear of your crank. You should notice a built in spiral. That is no good for a lip seal. A lip seal requires a smooth surface. A spiral surface will act like a thread constantly screwing itself through the new lip seal and prematurely wearing it out. So, to fix that simply take your crank to your local crank grinder and have them grind the spiral (seal surface) down to a given dimension. Then you will have the perfect seal surface for our new lip seal.

 

On the front of the crank, that seal surface is a sleeve pressed on to the crank. We will supply a smooth ground sleeve perfect for a lip seal.