A friend of mine just replaced a rear main seal in a 312 (year unknown). The seal in the car was a newer rubber seal that had failed after not so many miles. In the process of replacing the seal (crank in, engine out) he encountered something preventing the seal from turning in the block. He pulled the crank out and found a pin in the block, presumably to hold a rope seal from turning.

This was the first time he encountered this, and he has replaced seal in a number of Y's.

Is this something ford did or was it something that some one else might have done? I guess some small blocks (289/302's) had a pin in the cap, but never seen one in the block

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Paul I read an article recently describing the installation of a pin as you describe. For the life of me I can't remember where but it was in the last two weeks.

Anyway I don't believe Ford ever installed one, the writer of the article indicated it was their idea (for whatever reason).

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

Dang can't believe I found it that fast... http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0810sr_bestgasket_rope_seals_ford_y_block/

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

Now I remember why it stuck with me, it mentions Ted installing the seal.

Sorry for the 3 posts, I still can't edit my posts without getting an error message and being dumped off the site. Sure wish somebody would fix that.

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

Master Thanks. I have this article and it shows drilling for the pin in the retainer. The one I mentioned above is in the block.

Probably some one put it in a rope replacement

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Paul. I’ve not run across any installed pins for the rear main seals in the Y engines. If going with a neoprene seal, then the pin would need to be removed. With the pin currently being in the block side, then the crankshaft would need to be moved substantially to get a new rope seal in place.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

In all the Ys I've had apart, I've seen only one with a pin in the block for the seal. I figured a rebuilder did it.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

If you are every planning on racing with your engine pinning the rear main is an excellant idea. I have done it for years with the rope seals on my GMC 6's. They are not a verticle pin but are thru the side from the rear. I use 6/32 threaded set screws and am able to put them in after the crank is inplace. I use 2 near the edges of the rear main cap; one would probably do.

When the old GMC's were not available I started find the early Fords which have always been very good. I now use Best. Good Luck

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.