The 'E' Type Forum

Hi All...asking this for a friend......he,s just purchased rear rope seal from one of the usuals....each half is far too long....originals used to be an exact length....anyone know what that length is or have you purchased recently and the seal was exact length.... (who from).......so assuming replacements are extra long how to proceed....Thanks...Steve.....PS yes soak them in oil for a few days...

Steve : it rather depends upon what is meant by "far too long" . The apparent length has always been longer than that which is required, but the old hands have always insisted that they should not be cut, but that the pre-soaked halves should each be pounded into their respective slots until there is nothing protruding which would interfere with the fitting of the rear main halves . The completed 360 degree seal is then sized using the sizing tool , effectively reaming it to crankshaft journal size

I have to say, that that is the theory. In practice I have found it very difficult to achieve, ( and on the advice of my machining engineer have used the crankshaft to "roll" the seal into the housings, and have used a razor blade to trim the ends, and so far disaster has not supervened, but......

Hi Christopher.....these seals have been slightly flattened to get them in and rolled in....but the are about 20mm too long....far too much to try to push in......Steve

Not sure what you mean by useing the crankshaft......on one half at a time or fitting between the two halfs and slowly tightening down whilst turning crank?

Are they soft and floppy or the usual firm shaped parts of the right shape but more than a 180 slice?

Hi Peter...180deg shaped...when rolled into each half of retainer approx 10mm protruding each end....My friend under advice from others rightly or wrongly cut them off with 3mm protruding each side....then sized them in(they were the white seal)......I searched quite a bit through the forum and there are other mentions of seals being too long but im not sure if this isnt just that thay havent rolled them in enough......I couldnt find much in the way of photo,s so found a few on line that might help others....Note on 4th photo down the seal retainer is just loose and tightened down a bit at a time........please feel free to ad more info to this thread re fitting a rear seal....Please note im not saying these photos show the correct way to proceed......but the service manual is a bit vague......Steve