I need to replace the oil seal in the timing chain cover,do I have to drop oil pan to do this. My motor is a 350 in a 75 corvette.

 

Yes. It needs to be dropped a fraction of an inch at the front before the cover can come off.

 

YES if you are removing the timing chain cover....

NO it does not need to be touched if the grease seal for the harmonic balancer is being replaced.

PROFESSIONAL WISDOM/ADVICE...take it or leave it.
You need to look at the surface of your harmonic balancer and make sure that there is not a grove cut into it from this grease seal. If it is ...there are two ways of fixing this.

OPTION ONE: you can buy a kit where a steel sleeve can be pressed over the balancer end and give you a good smooth surface for the seal to seal against.

OPTION TWO: Buy a new balancer.

KEEP THIS IN MIND!!!! AND DO YOURSELF A BIG FAVOR. When you have the balancer off. Call your parts house and see if they have a balancer in stock that you can look at. TAKE your balancer with you. When you are there....set the new balancer so the shaft portion is on the counter top pointing downwards..and the surface of the new balancer where the pulley goes is on top. When you look inside the center hole in the balancer you will see the notch where your woodruff key goes. NOW...set your balancer on top of the new balancer the SAME WAY....where the shaft portion is touching the new balancer and the flat portion on YOUR balancer where your pulley goes is on top. LOOK DOWN inside the center hole and LINE UP the notches INSIDE the balancer.

NOW...look at the notch/groove in the outer ring of the balancers and see if they match EXACTLY. IF your balancer's timing notch/groove is not the SAME as the new balancer...I would replace it....and that is REGARDLESS if the machined surface for your new grease seal is still perfect. I have seen the notch /groove in the outer ring be off as much as 2-3 inches.....which effects you setting your timing when using a timing light.

It will be your choice on if you replace it depending on how far off your notch/groove actually is.

DUB

 

When you get the cover off be careful in removing the seal. Don't do whatever bubba did to mine when I took my cover off.




Below is a pi of a speedy sleeve which Dub mentioned. Not much in favore of this. Most of which Dub mentioned is correct ecept you may want to make sure you have the right balance to begin with. In my case I had the wrong balancer. I am finding out in my restore to never assume what you took off was or is correct.

Roger

 

I'm no auto mechanic ,so I am asking a of questions.... that key way in the balancer will put the engine timing back close where suppose to be. After I get cover off I plan to take to the garage and have them remove and install seal . How can I tell if the balancer is bad and needs replacing. And if I drop the front of oil pan won't I have to take all the bolts out.

 

In most cases the optimal way to replace the seal is to drop the oil pan. Than you are replacing all gaskets. You can loosen the first half of the bolts and yes some may come due to their length. If you plan to use the separate rubber seal in the front instructions call for the sealing material to be placed on the ends where the gasket will slip into the side pieces. Not that easy but it can be done. It is not necessary to goop the entire groove like below. Good luck
Roger

 

I CLEARLY WROTE it out in POST#3 on how to tell if your balancer is bad or not...in regards to the notch for timing.

The groove in the end of the crankshaft where the woodruff key it located is to index the balancer...BUT...the notch in the balancer can move...thus causing the balancer being bad. READ post #3.

The seal can be removed and installed and NOT remove the timing chain cover. Unless the countless ones I have done that do not leak were done wrong. NO damage to the timing chain cover.

BUT...if you want to take the timing chain cover off and all associated parts...that is your choice. I WOULD pull the timing chain cover IF it was leaking or the front of the oil pan was leaking. IF they are both good...I leave it alone. It saves a lot of time.

In the photo posted by 'rvzio'...If I had to replace JUST the grease seal...I could have it out and back in in about 10 minutes. Using a piece of plastic PVC tubing works well to install the seal evenly.

DUB

 

Well this being my first time , I going to take my time ...just another question can the oil pan (if needed to be) be dropped with the car on jack stands. I plan to print out this post and study it before I do the repair. I want to thank everyone for the input(help).
Rick

 

Yes, there's plenty of room for it to be removed with the car on stands. Get a good gasket like Fel-Pro.

 

You know I've done it both ways and although you can do it with out removing the pan, I've always found remiving the pan the better way to go. If you don't I've always had to cut the ears of the timing cover plus losen the first 5 or six pan bolts and pry it down and got it to work good and also leak. You want to clean every thing well and use plenty of right stuff if you don't pull the pan. Good luck.

DO MA NEU!

 

Often times...if you plan on dropping the oil pan...you will need to drop your center link down to give you easy access in getting the pan in and out. Which is another process entirely.

Making sure that the counter weights on your crankshaft are up in the block instead of hanging down.,.which effects how the pan will come out..>ESPECIALLY if you do not do anything with the center link.

Often times a person may not know if the engine has a wind-age tray or not...which directly effects on how the pan goes on...versus an engine that does NOT have a wind-age tray. USUALLY higher performance engines will have a wind-age tray.

DUB