Restoration of Hull 731- Carrier, MG (Aust) Mortar Carrying

[Lynn Eades]

Before you get too far, I may need to be enlightened here. I thought that with that alloy insert, and the flange (slinger) on the crank, that there was not supposed to be a rear seal in that set up?
My understanding is that a new alloy insert is installed, and the slinger is ground off, by the crank grinder, and then a (dog turd) seal is installed.

[Darrin Wright]

Going by my Repair Manual for Ford V8 engines, 1937 to 1947, (pic attached) it states that "one has to coat the upper & lower rear main oil seal retainers with shellac and install the upper half of the retainer in the cylinder block.
Engines built since April 1944 have the lower oil seal retainer integral with the cap. On earlier engines, install the lower half of the retainer in the rear main bearing cap".
There is no clear pic showing the bearing journal at the rear of the crankshaft.

The book leads me to beleive that the seal retainers have the rope seal and the retainer listed as one item.
When the engine was pulled apart there was a rope seal in the seal retainers, this does not neccesarily mean that it was correct.
The gasket kit that I bought has the rope items in it, possibly a modern day way of economically supplying the parts as seal retainers do not wear out (unless incorrectly installed).
The engine rebuilder did give my a bit of V8 history regarding my engine, it is a 1940 block but he thought it had a 1949 crank whick is quite rare (ie a good crank for hot rods & racing). That all means that this engine was possibly rebuilt at some point. The engine number confirms that it was in a BGC as referanced to the AWM records.
I beleive that the rope seal has to go back in to the seal retainers and runs along the edge of the slinger, I think it will be a very effective seal.

I am open to any input and corrective advice at this point in time...

[Lynn Eades]

I am waiting for others to chime in here, because I don,t think you are supposed to install any seal in your set up ( 3rd picture post #102) It is purely a slinger.
I would be buying the later seal carriers, and having the slinger ground off.
Before you do anything, get the info.
Your last picture is of a later engine, with no water holes along the sump line. Have a look at Van Pelts web site or jump on Fordbarn.
I,m just trying to save you some grief.

[Lynn Eades]

Darrin, here are some pictures of what the later seal carrier looks like. This one is for the rope seal.
There is a listing on E bay for one #360661747859.
Van Pelts sell them.

[Darrin Wright]

Lynn,
having read the 1943 workshop manual, it describes the 1940/41 engine as having a slinger on the crankshaft and the seal reatiner fitted to catch the oil.
On the 1942 engines (and earlier engines fitted with a later model crankshaft) the slinger is machined off and a different seal retainer fitted with a rope seal to keep the oil in the sump.

I visited and joined the fordbarn website/forum and have posted a question there to see what info I get.

I think I have the earlier crankshaft and rear main bearing and do not require the rope seal, the slinger should do the job. At this point in time I will not modify the engine as what was engineered originally should work well providing I put it back together correctly or as originally designed.

[Darrin Wright]

After reading and getting some additional info regarding rear main seals, I have removed the rope seal and gone with the original oil slinger set up, should work fine as Henry Ford intended.

I have installed the crankshaft and bolted it down, bearing caps have been torqued down.

Have also cleaned and installed the cam shaft, making sure to align the timing marks correctly.

Used my floor crane and sling and lifted and rotated the block so that I can start on the valves, working the right way up.

Washed the adjustable valve lifters and installed them making sure that they were a light fit in their holes.
Read the instructions that came with them, realised that I had to loosen the adjuster nut before installation, removed all lifters and using a screw driver and 7/16 socket moved the adjuster screw 1/2 a turn in each direction. Then re-installed the adjustable lifters making sure that I had plenty of lube and oil around them.

Installed the 2 baffles in the valve/lifter area.

Started on assembling a valve unit together so that I had a clear idea on the next part of the engine, then time to wash up and have tea...to be continued...

[Darrin Wright]

Today I commenced putting the valve assemblies in to the engine. Individually washed each valve and its items and then fitted the valve into the guide and checked it for free movement, installed the valve spring and with a bit of lube, placed it into its hole in the block.
With a screwdriver made sure the guide was down far enought so the keeper could be installed.
Then using the pry bar lifted the spring and fitted the bottom retainer.
Managed to get 6 out of 8 valves installed on the right side of the engine and 2 on the left (these were the ones where the lifted was all the way down).

This took me about 5-10min per valve. Remember, it's not a race.

In the afternoon got sidetracked and painted the rear interior compartment, left hand side hull and the outer bottom right side of the hull. Not ideal painting conditions as the paint is still tacky after 3 hours.