TorchTarga94

Hey guys, need a little help...

I am replacing all the seals in the front timing cover and changing the plug wires while I am in there.



Everything was going smoothly, and then i proceeded to remove the seals. The water pump and opti seal came out without much of a fuss. Then I proceeded onto the front crank seal, I was using my seal puller, and I am usually very careful about these kinds of things, but it caught part of the timing cover and chipped a small piece off the flange where the seal sits against.



I have looked everywhere for this little piece! All over the garage, and inside of the engine as best I could, even drained the oil and sifted through it to no avail. Should I stop worrying? I'm not sure if it would harm anything, I don't think it could make it past the oil pickup screen but I want to check with you guys. I am close to pulling the pan off (again!) but I am almost certain I wouldn't find anything...which would be a huge waste...


Any advice?

87bob

I'm sure your a nervous wreck about the chip but if you stop and think about it the chip came out not in. You will have a potential leak but if you clean it with some brake cleaner then use a bit of JB weld you probably can make it seal up until the next major overhaul. Good Luck!

96GS#007

From looking at it, I'd say the piece shot across the garage somewhere or it's resting on the cross-member.

I would not JB Weld that area. The seal has plenty of other surface area to rest against when you install it. Put a very light coating of RTV or "The Right Stuff" around the seal during install and you'll be fine.

TorchTarga94

Thanks a bunch fellas...going to give that a try. I was figuring on RTV or JB, but RTV definitely seems like the safer route. I too thought it still had plenty of sealing surface as the piece that chipped off is only a small portion of the flange where the seal seats.


Thanks!

TorchTarga94

So far no leaks! Thanks guys!

some quick pics from today..

New hub on left, old hub on right

87bob

Where did you get the new hub? I like the style of that Hub.

TorchTarga94

Thanks! I got it off of Fleabay from a seller called "joemama". He seems to specialize in LT1 hubs, it is brand new and was a perfect fit. I believe it is the same one offered in Jegs and a few other catalogs. It is billet steel, seems to be a very nice piece!

94flavette

Looks good! Where'd you get the timing seals? How hard was it to do?

TorchTarga94

Thanks! Got the seals from advanced auto, they all come in one box including the gaskets for the water pump and timing cover, believe it was $10. Not very hard at all, just takes some patience. The hardest part is pulling the crank hub if you don't have the special Kent Moore puller (Which is on my list of tools to get).