V8MiataMike

The front seal seals on the harmonic balancer. Hopefully its surface is clean/smooth. Also, the front timing cover should have two dowel pins in it that align it to the block. they are in the bottom bolts one on each side. They ensure the center line of the crankshaft hole in the timing cover is center line of the crankshaft itself.

The rear main seal is just sensitive to install. Best bet is some kind of installer that will put it on evenly without damaging it. There are types of rear main seals that require it to NOT be lubricated otherwise it will leak.

jrmotorsports55

Damper is new as well, and dowels were aligned. I think I may have overfilled the oil, and am thinking there may be excessive crank case pressure. I had to relocate where Pcv hooks to manifold due to valve cover clearance.

jrmotorsports55

Ran it again today. Front leak looks to be oil pan gasket under the timing cover, hoping rear is the same. Gonna snug down the pan again, see if it helps any. We'll see. Checked for crank pressure, no issues there (Put finger over dipstick hole and over oil fill cap).

jrmotorsports55

Snugged up oil pan and drained off some oil as it was overfilled on the dipstick. Ran it and am still dripping out of the front, but not as bad (it's seeping out where it meets with the timing cover). Rear does not leak when running, but starts to drip bad when I turn it off. Looks like I'm gonna be pulling the k member to drop the pan and get a new gasket/put sealer in the corners. Also have a little coolant seepage from bottom of water pump. Good times.

V8MiataMike

You may have them already but just in case... There are steel spacer like clamping plates that Ford began putting on the oil pan at some point to create a more flat clamping pressure across each side of the oil pan. There are longer bolts to use these plates that run along each side. Of course using the longer bolts without the plates will cause the bolts to bottom in the threads prior to really clamping. You probably already have these on but again, just in case. They really help if you are using the one piece gaskets.

jrmotorsports55

Yeah, I have those rails. Bolts not bottomed. Leaking at the corners of the rounded bottom of the front cover. Not sure about where rear is leaking, it's higher up.

.boB

Trying to get a leak free seal on a SBF is kinda tough. Seems like they're designed to leak. But there are some tricks that will get you pretty close.

- use a good silicone 1 piece gasket. I like Ford, with the metal inserts around each bolt hole.
- At each corner of the gasket there are small silicone tabs. trim the ends about 1mm or so, and bevel the sides
- make sure the slots in the front cover and rear cap are clean, with no silicone stuck in there.
- put a small dab of silicone in the slots, at each rounded corner, and at the seams of the front cover.
- make sure the pan rail is straight and clean. I use a ball peen hammer to slightly dimple the hole away from the gasket.
- use a slight smear of silicone or Gaska-Cinch to "glue" the gasket in place until you get the pan in place.
- get a couple 1/4" x1" bolts. Cut the heads off, and cut a screwdriver slot in the end. Put one on each side of the block to guide and hold the pan in place until you get a couple of bolts started
- DON'T over tighten the bolts. a little silicone on the threads will keep them from coming loose.

jrmotorsports55

Thanks. I used the Fel pro one piece steel core gasket, but did not silicone the corners because the directions said no sealer. Regret it now. Everything was nice and clean when I rebuilt it. Not looking forward to dropping the pan with engine in car, but think that will solve my front and rear leaks. I know from my old fox stang that leaks are pretty common, this one is really bad though. Nice little puddle after 10 mins running. Can watch it drip out.

tbone heller

If it is only the front leaking, you could try replacing the timing cover gasket. That would allow you to reseal the front of the oil pan without removing the oil pan or cross member.

V8MiataMike

I totally agree with tbone. Great idea. The source of that rear leak may change that plan though...

MX-Brad

I'd be inclined to take it out rather than try to work around the subframe, but I'm sure you're already struggling with that thought.

jrmotorsports55

Yeah, gonna do the whole gasket since I have a rear leak. I figure I can just drop the crossmember a few inches for clearance to swap gaskets (had to do pan gasket on my fox stang). We'll see. Really don't want to pull engine out, but with water pump seeping I just might.

jrmotorsports55

Pulled the cooling stuff yesterday (rad/fans and water pump). Also tapped the manifold coolant crossover and installed my WT gauge sensor as it was not doing well in the heater core line (was an afterthought once the engine was assembled and in). Next will be dropping the k member and pan to replace the oil pan gasket. Good times. Ordered all the seals yesterday as well.

jrmotorsports55

Quick update, replaced the oil pan gasket yesterday, what a pain. It was definitely leaking front and rear at the humps. Cleaned it up and put new Fel pro rubber gasket in using sealer on the two humps/corners. Fingers crossed. Now need to get the water pump back on and see what happens.

MX-Brad

Good luck, fingers crossed.

jrmotorsports55

Took care of the front main and water pump today. Everything is reassembled. Just need to change the oil and completely fill the coolant. Then we'll see what happens. Hopefully no more leaks.

jrmotorsports55

Fired it up today, still leaking at the front and rear humps. All that I can think of is that the powdercoating on the Martin pan may have lessened the amount that the pan can bite into the gasket. It does not seem to be leaking from the corners, but seeping along the curve. Does not leak when cold, but really seeps once things warm up. Front is worse than the rear, but the rear is still leaking in the same area. Not a happy person right now as pulling the pan is a total PITA. Time to walk away and cool off for a while.

MX-Brad

That f@cking sucks. Big time.

jrmotorsports55

Yeah, been reading online and this seems to be common with the one piece Fel pro. Gonna pull it and smother both sides of the curved gasket with sealer and hope for the best. Seriously pissed off that I have to do this again. I think I'm going to shift to working on the rear end for now, need a different scene.

MRM331

You have my sympathies. That sucks.

I just had to pull my differential down after having it completely rebuilt and installing it because an error was made during set up. I get to reinstall it now and hope that maybe it won't need to be pulled out again. In anticipation of having to do it again I turned what was a one-piece exhaust on each side into a cat back.

Best of luck,

-Jason

jrmotorsports55

Thanks, big bummer but I'll figure it out.

jrmotorsports55

Quick update: rear end work

-Machined and installed ES bushings in to the Martin diff mount. Also burned the rubber off of the mounting plates per the ES instructions.
-Tore down the trac lok unit that I bought for my 7.5 and ordered new clutches as it was toast.
-Drained the 7.5 housing and will start tearing it down soon.
-Ordered new bearings/seals for the rear, as well as another oil pan gasket and water pump gaskets as I found the WP is still leaking between the back plate and the pump housing where the two bottom bolts are.

Good times.

jrmotorsports55

Update, cleaned and rebuilt the track lok, installed new side bearings. Inspected the pinion and bearings/seal are in good shape so I did not removed it. Swapped the ring gear from the open diff to the track lok and went to install. When trying to install, I cracked one of the side shims. Talk about a pisser. Just ordered a side shim kit but now I have to wait for that to arrive before I can proceed. Not cool. Cleaned up and trimmed the cover per the manual so I will be good to go once the shim kit arrives. I was really hoping to get the carrier hung today. Guess not.

jrmotorsports55

Got the shim kit and the rear end is now back together and ready to be mounted. Got the backlash to .010, and the mesh looks good. Time to get it hung and weld in the torque plate.

tbone heller

Since you are using a used set of gears, you will want to set the backlash to the exact same numbers that the gears were set at when you removed them from the original carrier. If not, you will always be looking in your rear view mirror for a police car because of the gear whine. LOL!!