Posted by Matt Wilson [162.158.69.150] on Sunday, August 27, 2017 at 21:26:30 :
My 265 flathead is at the machine shop, and I dropped in the other day to see how the work was progressing, and I saw that the crankshaft rear main seal surface was rather rough-looking, even though the rest of the crankshaft has been re-worked already. I mentioned it to the machinist, and he said it would be difficult to get that surface looking good. He said he will try polishing it a bit, but that it may not get much better. I asked him about taking it back to the shop the welded the damaged thrust flange, and he said welding it would be feasible, but grinding it back smooth would be the hard part because it's not very common for shops to have grinding wheels narrow enough to fit in the area between the flywheel flange and the backside of the thrust flange, which is about a 1" wide distance. I don't think he's actually talked to the welding shop to see if they have a wheel like that, so I'll ask him to do that, but otherwise, I'm at a bit of a loss over what to do.
The seal is a neoprene type, with the upper half fitting into a recess in the block, and the lower half fitting into a recess in the rear main cap, typical of the later flatheads. If necessary, I suppose I could adapt a seal of the type that bolts to the backside of the block, but I've heard those are not as good as the type I have.
Anyone here have any other suggestions?
Thanks.
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