VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 rear main seal

Can the rope seal in a 54 235 be converted to the one piece rubber lip seal?

No. The "rubber" seal is for 1955 and up only. The seal grove is too deep for the 1954 and prior engines and the lip of the seal will not even contact the crankshaft.

Thanks Gene, thats what I thought, but I saw an ebay ad for a 54 and it said it had been converted to the rubber seal.

Evidently, there is a machine proceedure to allow successful use of the later type main seal. 'Haven't looked into it.

There is also a way to convert a 216 to "full pressure" oiling. I wish the PO of the '41 had done that (he paid enough!). At least he converted it to insert rod bearings.

Check this site out, he does conversions.

http://www.inliners.org/becks/

Thanks - very interesting but too late for my 216. PO had it built. If I was building a 216 I would go for full pressure. But then, I would never build a 216.

The 216 in the '41 is doing a good job now. Just put just over 200 miles on it recently with no problems. For the most part, ran it 55 to 65 mph. With insert rods, I think it will handle that. If not, I don't want it. I ain't gonna putt around on the highway at 50.

I have a 54 full pressure engine in my 53 and the rear main seal is a two part rubber seal. There is a top portion and a bottom portion and you use a little dab of silicone on each side where the two parts come together. There is no need to use a rope seal. The two part rubber seal was purchased from NAPA.

It is true taht the rubber seal were work in some late 1954 engines.

The rubber seal was never used in production and was first available through parts in about 1963. At that time Chevrolet listed it as being for 1955-1962 engines only. Te current Fel=Pro catalog lists it the same way today.

It can be used in the older engines but needs a .045" spacer under the seal so the lip contacts the crankshaft. Also this make the seal halves too long so it needs to be ground a little shorter using the cap as a gauge. There is a heavy metal wire inside the seal.

That sounds like the rear main seal that was in the '41 when I bought it. It lost a quart in 33 miles. Evidently came in a Kantor engine kit (?).

A buddy has a rack. We put a rope seal in it. Looks like it's gonna drip about a quart in 900/1000 miles now.

Now I realize you aren't going to do this, as your engine is already done, this is just for information purposes. if you have the engine out for machine work anyway have them cut for a full circle seal. I also have the number for the seal if anyone is interested. This however precludes using shims, which at this point aren't neccesary, since the main bores are held to + or - .0005" tolerance and the crank journals are held to + or - .0005" tolerance as well. I don't know if I am the only one who has noticed the 235 is only 16 cubic inches larger. But a 216 is a fine engine. They can be easlily converted to full pressure using a 235 crank and rods using custom pistons, or get the crank drilled. (I paid $180 at crower cams.) Gene Beck uses the 235 crank. And if you send a 216 to him for conversion he will send the crank to crower any way. I got all of this from him personally. (that is how I found out about crower) I have lots of information on converting to full pressure, full flow filters. I spent an inordinate amount of time researching this matter. The conversion to full flow/filter is very easy, and other than drilling the crank, or getting custom pistons made doesn't cost very much. (either way you go it adds about $300) I have been meaning to make a tech tip on this matter, and still do intend to it eventually, just as soon as I get everything else done in my life.

So Brokenhead, will this Wayne head be going on a 216 converted to 235 with full pressure? And what will it be going in, the 53 pick-up? Sounds menacing.

That I am trying to figure right now, I have a 235 crank, a plain 216 crank, and one drilled 216 crank. I have some 270 gmc rods I can use. I am contemplating line boring the cam bores to allow the large journal cams. Looks like there is more than adequate material upon a cursory inspection, But right now I am trying to decipher what they were doing with the valves in the head, They are quite a lot larger than specified. Howards has the perfect cam for it (at least with the stock head) however I think Howards was instrumental in some of the wayne engine work, I don't know for sure, but I have talked to their cam guru fella previously, in preparation for building the engine I have presently. Which by the way I just built a year ago and only have like 1200 miles on. This wayne head just came out of the blue, so I had to take it. It was horrendously expensive, but I wanted it REAL bad, have wanted one real bad for about 30 years. The most fun about this is the hunt. (ain't that like a lot of things?) I am also going to use 3 small TBI units on it, I don't know which ones yet, I have been corresponding with some fella that is doing that, and has done it on many types of engines already. So once I figure the valves out I am searching for injectors, This is mostly just for fun anyway, and it keeps me out of trouble. (I have a good wife) but yes it is going in the truck, I have drug that truck around for 30 years, it deserves a wayne head.....

Ah, how well I know "the hunt".
A Sacramento member has a full pressure early 235 in his 41 sedan. He started with a 235 hi-torque (truck Engine). Installed a 54 crank and rods (with a little grinding on the crank for clearance) That was about it, except for removing the troughs in the pan. You mentioned converting a 216 to 235 wouldn't the pistons stick up above the deck requiring a lot of head work?
Jay

yes it would, but venolia (and maybe ross) makes pistons for the wayne head and the compression height is adjusted at no additional cost. Because even with the correct rod/crank/piston combination, if you machine the block you could conceivably have that problem. However even their standard units aren't really cheap, but after buying that head another $300 isn't of really any consequence. I feel bad hijacking this thread....