Finally did it.. got enough time to take my time and follow the instructions to the letter....
Engine stripped and bearing cap removed.
Engine turned on its side, I found this was the most ergonomic position to get the garter spring wrapped around the crankshaft.
I paid particular attention to the "don't stretch spring" and managed after a few tried to get it hooked properly around the crank.
Using Silicone grease (Dielectric) I moved the garter spring against the oil slinger and fitting the new seal, using plenty of grease. Angle from the top seeing the position of spring and seal.
Using some optical screw drivers and a chopstick garter spring was slipped into place, again plenty of grease, being careful not to stretch it beyond necessary.
Time for seal retainer and Hylomar.
cleaned up the retainer halves using no solvents as described in the green bible..
New seal pushed up against the oil slinger in position for seal retainers.
Hylomar applied and upper seal retainer half installed on engine block..
could not find any torque value for seal retainer halves, left finger tight for the moment, just enough thread engagement for bolt heads to clear crank flange.
side note: split in seal was oriented toward the top of the motor. There is a cast rib on the block that I used as a visual reference to ensure it did not move.
Despite what I was told about the new neoprene T seals vs. the cork I decided to go with cork..
The neoprene ones were a super tight fit, even with the grease and I ended up nicking the sides of the seal.
they just didn't install well in the bearing cap. The rubberized cork seals went in with little effort, all lubed up and trimmed as per manual instructions. Located the lower seal retainer on the bearing block and finger tight on all the mounting bolts.
Smike provided a scrap sheet of HDPE plastic to make some guides as per SafeAirOnes installation method. (Rover guy)
cut and drilled, smoothed and beveled the edges to allow the bearing cap to slide into the block without messing up the T seals. Seal retainer half was left loose as well to allow for proper compression of the seal in the retainer..
used a feeler gauge to ensure there was a .030" gap between cap and block prior to torqueing bolts.
seal retainer bolts tightened to "good enough" and exposed T seal material also trimmed to .030 in. "proud"
all done for now unless somebody tells me I did something horribly wrong and I should give it another go..
moving on to slapping the rest of the engine back together and doing some other things here and there.
