Oil filter canister is within spitin diameter of a chrchill 17 rear crank rope seal

[mister mitch]

On the main crank the rear crank scroll diameter is 3.119 inches ...while the canister of the cartridge type oil filter is 3.114 and the REPORTED diameter of the churchill J17 is 3.11thus,
Most of us have a suitable J17 tool for installing the rear crank rope seal in the form of the oil filter canister

Mitch

[Hugo]

Surely the oil filter canister is bigger than 3+1/8", isn't it? I fitted my rope seal with a large 3/4" drive socket and a big hammer. It's a bit tight on the crank but I reckon it'll bed in ok (haven't run it yet).
One point I noticed is that it is very easy to get strands of the rope seal trapped between the two halves of the housing. I cut the projecting ends of my rope seal into - can't remember what they're called but like a pyramid with the point chopped off. Then when I bolted the two halves together, I nipped them up lightly & tried to get a 1.5 thou feeler gauge in there. I kept trimming away at the rope until it wasn't trapping any strands, and the feeler gauge would not longer go in the gap.
I reckon there are two areas where the rope seal gets unfairly blamed for leaking; the above is one, the other is the absence of a gasket behind the upper half of the housing. I made up a gasket for that, and applied silicone RTV to both the gasket and. more importantly, to the abutting ends of the rope seal housing, around the seal itself.
As I said, I haven't run my engine yet so I don't know the effect of all this, but I did go to quite a bit of trouble with the seal as I didn't fancy taking the whole lot to bits again.

[angelw]

Hugo Wrote:

It's a bit tight on the crank but I reckon it'll bed in ok (haven't run it yet).

Hello Hugo,
Being tight is the destroyer of the rope seal; they burn and then leak profusely. They tend to bounce back from being sized with an oversized sizing tool more than bedding in from being too tight.

Regards,

Bill

[Hugo]

Well, we'll find out soon enough! If it does go up in smoke I'll probably keep quiet about it though ;)

[Hugo]

I should add that it's not entirely guesswork - I spent a bit of time turning the engine over with a socket bar on the end of the crank & it feels ok. I think. I even measured the torque needed to turn the engine over with and without the seal housings tightened. Can't remember what results I got but I'm reasonably confident. I hope.

[mgcjag]

Hi Mitch...its not an acurate machined polished surface....i doubt it is even perfectly round and probably too soft for the job......is it really worth taking the chance in useing it... Steve

[angelw]

Mitch Wrote:

On the main crank the rear crank scroll diameter is 3.119 inches ...while the canister of the cartridge type oil filter is 3.114 and the REPORTED diameter of the churchill J17 is 3.11thus,
Most of us have a suitable J17 tool for installing the rear crank rope seal in the form of the oil filter canister

Hello Mitch,
Sizing the seal to the correct diameter is only part of the exercise; it also needs to be sized concentric to the centre line of the main bearings. The oil filter at best will only achieve a diameter, with the concentricity aspect, if achieved, being through good luck, rather than good management.

Regards,

Bill

[mister mitch]

Only time will tell...
some 6 years ago I used the oil canister AS DESCRIBED above as a sizing tool...so far so good..(the rear rope seal does not leak..or very very little)
Maybe at the end of the day we could use some optimism...WORKS
Mitch.