VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Front Crank Seal

I was wondering if anyone had a sub for the cork "O" ring in the front triming cover seal on a 35 engine? I know that a modern rubber seal can be used. Does anyone have a part number for a sub.

Hi Rxn,

Any parts house that sells seals will have a section in their parts book to identify a seal by dimensions. So, measure the diameter of the area in the front cover and the diameter of the crank. With those two numbers head to your nearest parts house. Once you have the seal in your hands you can judge the 'thickness' of the seal for suitability.

The cork seal fits into a pocket and there is no way a modern metal encased seal would fit in the pocket.If the front retainer (front half of pocket) were removed perhaps a seal could be installed.If you want to take a chance and remove the front of the pocket to see if a conventional seal fits-thus damaging the cover if no seal can be found-I do have a new front cover.My 1934 had no seal-just an oil slinger behind the balancer-and no oil leaks out.

Looking at the new cover I see the front part of the seal retainer can be removed - same as a metal encased seal.I guess that would be necessary just to change the cork.The parts book lists the I.D. of the cork at 1 1/2"--and the O.D of the metal retainer is listed as 2 5/32" in the 1940 parts book and 2 3/16" in the later books :confused: I can see no reason why a seal couldn't be installed-as long as it matches those demensions.Will try to measure the retainer O.D. later to see if I can determine which size is correct.

Rex,The outter diameter of the cork retainer on the new cover measures 2 3/16".If you can find a seal-as per A.T.'s suggestion-that measures that demension on the outside and 1 1/2" I.D. to fit the balancer -and not too wide it looks like it should do the job.Would try a NAPA store.If you come up with one let me know for future referrence.

If your going thru all the work to replace the seal-ie-pulling the radiator shell etc.-I would consider replacing the timing gears at that point.Are you sure the seal is leaking?Those engines usually don't get that much oil up to the timing gears to cause a leak-unless the return holes are plugged.

Thank Ray and Chev nut -- I guess the cork will work ok. I'll try for the rubber seal and see what I can come up with. It's leaking bad at the front of the engine, 2 qt's in 100 miles, and I'm changing all the seals in front as well as the pan. It looks like the front pan cork as well as the crank seal is as hard as a rock. I have checked the timing gears and they look good, no backlash etc. The car has only 39k on it and from what I have read in other posts it's a real job to replace the gears. Need to get it back on the road for a tour down south in two weeks.
Rex

OH I forgot!! The drain hole(holes) are at the bottom of the crank? I looked last night and didn't see the return hole (holes). That could be the main reason the oil is pouring out of the front timing cover.
Rex

The timing gear compartment oll return hole is directly below the crankshaft gear.Its partly obscured by the gear so may be difficult to see.On a 1937 and up 216 the holes align with holes in the front main bearing cap-the oil passes thru to the sump.I can't remember just how the old 206 looks in this area but running a wire thru the hole from the front will tell the story.Good luck

when i took my low milage 35 engine apart for clean up and paint i noticed that some one had put a modern seal in looks like they machined a spacer between the seal and cover probably had a od size problem when looking for seals dont over look the metric book some times you can find something a few thousands one way or another as i found in replacing propeller seals and dont forget the machine shop hope this helps like gene said my early pre 35 engines donot have any and no oil leaks out water may go in

The cork seal was installed in 1935 to help keep dust from entering more than to prevent oil leaking.

Just giving this more thought.....If the front main bearing has too much clearance too much oil will flow thru the bearing.The flow that passes thru the front side of the bearing dumps into the timing gear area.It also needs to return thru the little return hole.Many years back a friend had this problem with a '32-adjusting the bearing solved the problem.