Back in beige

[Nige]

The drilling for the 8 doweling hasn't punch into the crank oil ways has it? and you are fitting the end bolt with enough torque, is it 250ft/lbs or something.

[Cortina]

The drilling for the 8 doweling hasn't punch into the crank oil ways has it? and you are fitting the end bolt with enough torque, is it 250ft/lbs or something.

How on earth would a torque setting affect an oil leak path ?? (1 ft lb vs 200 ft lbs yes , but anything over a good nip vs correct torque .... can't see it ?)

[Nige]

I'm no expert so no need to jump down my throat.

But my reasoning, a loose or incorrectly torqued flywheel would increase end float (I'm assuming end float is set the same as a VW aircooled and it was correctly shimmed by the builder) this would then allow too much lateral movement in the crankshaft and thus bugger up the seal or allow too much oil to pass?! Probably totally wrong but feel free to correct me.

Either way there is an awful lot of oil exiting somewhere.

[Darren65]

Hope you get things resolved soon Jamie, we're all itching to see this car on the road and you're way due to a good run of luck.

Good stuff always starts happening come Spring!

[Dingbat]

Buck up little trooper
Oil leaks and old air cooled engines go hand in hand, your main seal leak could well be a leak between the end of the crank and the flywheel, I have had it before, there should be a metal gasket in there as you probably know but there may be a burr that's stopping the flywheel seating properly, the oil comes out around the flywheel bolt, then gets collected by the rebate around the inside of the face the clutch plate bears on, it then passes through the three drillings and gets thrown out between the flywheel and crankcase, the giveaway is wetness around the fly bolt. This would make sense of the other contributors elongated dowl hole reference, on the 912 I had this problem with there was little to see in the way of a problem between the crank and flywheel but the oil miffed out when hot, don't be confused by the dry clutch plate as the drillings through the inner part of the flywheel face are there to keep oil off of it, clutch plates are generally contaminated by gearbox input shaft leaks or putting too much grease in the pilot bearing within the fly bolt. Your doing a fine job.

[Dingbat]

It should not be an oil pressure thing either, there is an oil return passage to allow the oil that exits the bearing on the flywheel side to drain back into the case so there is no pressure build up between the flywheel seal and bearing , it may be worth checking your engine breathers are clear as there is a possibility a blocked breather is forcing oil past an otherwise fine crank seal.

[neilbardsley]

That is a good point. The rhd side head should breath into the oil filler canister

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

[jamie]

Well, I don't have an oil filter canister anymore - it has all gone in lieu of a remote oil filter.

I suppose the logical thing here is to get the correct sender for the 911 oil pressure gauge that is currently fitted in the car and connect it up. Anyone able to help with a part number for that?

Dingbat - the nut and everything on the inside face of the flywheel is bone dry. The rear face of the flywheel is dripping wet. I'm almost 100% certain the oil is spraying out of the seal, or somewhere near it, onto the wheel, and is being flung all around the back end of the bell housing.

Regarding breathers, the crankcase has three - one on each head, and one on the blanking plate where the oil canister tank used to be. The breathers on the heads have nothing coming from them, and the breather on the filter canister stub has some air blowing from it. Not sure if it's a 'normal' amount of air, or too much.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I'd love to get to the bottom of this. Am very close to getting the car moving under its own steam now!

[mooney3019]

Stupid question when the cases were put back together was there a rubber case seal installed on the crankshaft behind this seal on the 2 halves of the case ?

if it was it can only be the rear main seal where it seals against the flywheel flange, any high pressure would be pusher through the breathers as the least path of resistance not the rear main.

[911hillclimber]

Is this problem child with the engine man now?

[Dingbat]

Hi Jamie
I assume the land on the flywheel that the seal runs on is clean and does not have a big old groove in it from the previous seal, that's too obvious and your a clever chap, fly seals have to be pretty awful to pass the amount of oil you seem to have there, have you taken a good look at the cam end plug to see if you have a leak from there and check the nuts above and below it are tight. Lastly is it definitely engine oil and not gearbox oil coming past the input shaft seal, there seems to be a lot of oil in the bell housing, fly leaks unless they are monsters tend to escape through the opening in the bottom of the bell housing..

[jamie]

Hi chaps. I'll do this in a Q&A style so I don't miss anything out..

Stupid question when the cases were put back together was there a rubber case seal installed on the crankshaft behind this seal on the 2 halves of the case ? if it was it can only be the rear main seal where it seals against the flywheel flange, any high pressure would be pusher through the breathers as the least path of resistance not the rear main.

I didn't assemble the engine, so I don't know. I blood wish I did though!

Is this problem child with the engine man now?

Not yet. Lack of enthusiasm, and have a bunch of nice work projects keeping me occupied.

I assume the land on the flywheel that the seal runs on is clean and does not have a big old groove in it from the previous seal, that's too obvious and your a clever chap,

No groove. Not clever - just persistent.

fly seals have to be pretty awful to pass the amount of oil you seem to have there, have you taken a good look at the cam end plug to see if you have a leak from there and check the nuts above and below it are tight.

I haven't, but I will now...

Lastly is it definitely engine oil and not gearbox oil coming past the input shaft seal, there seems to be a lot of oil in the bell housing, fly leaks unless they are monsters tend to escape through the opening in the bottom of the bell housing.

Defo engine oil. It is coming out of the bellhousing exactly as you describe.

[jamie]

Interesting find...

Most of the oil has dripped off the face of the crankcase that sits behind the flywheel.

There is a small dribble of oil coming from the oil galley plug at the 2-o'clock position...

Can anyone tell me anything about that plug - is it supposed to be sealed is some way?

I'm going back out to the garage to poke it with an allen key. Standby for an update...

[sladey]

Bated breath.........

[Cortina]

Bated breath.........

My bet would be, he's found it ! ...............