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TR2/3/3A Front Oil Seal

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DaveC

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Advice please.

I'm at the end of a rebuild of my engine and everything has gone well, except for the front oil seal. To cut a long story short, I can't get a new seal (Moss 520-000) into the timing cover. I've tried heating the cover, and have got a perfectly sized ring to help drift the seal in. However, it just won't go in without distorting. This is the second seal (the first went in eventually but must have been distorted).

So, is there a trick I'm missing, or is there a different supplier that offers a seal that is a better fit?

thanks
dave
 
Are you absolutely certain that all of the old seal is out of the cover? A lot of times, they have an outer metal ring that looks like it is part of the cover, but isn't (and tends to stay behind in the cover). I believe the pocket should be about 2.5" (same as the outside diameter of the seal).
 
Unlike most cars, it inserts from the inside...so perspectivly it goes in backwards from the way most seals install. Are you certain you are not installing it backwards?
 
Absolutely sure. I have the timing cover off, the old seal is out in one piece, and I'm installing it the correct way around, ie with the spring and lips facing inwards.

dave
 
Any burrs or suspicious potentially out of round areas? It is a tight fit but with a proper sized drift (I use a large socket) I’ve been able to always seat them. Not a great idea but you might try a different vendor to see if a different seal can work.
 
You could take your old seal to your local "bearing" type shop where they can measure your old one accurately and supply new.
 
Alas...another example of the shoddy vender parts we are forced to deal with! Order one from TRF.
 
Second the call to TRF, they specialize in tr3; the owner drives one and as a result often the parts are more original.
 
Well I got another seal from a different supplier. This was more of a rubber housing and it slid into the timing cover with just the right amount of effort. I had called Moss and they said they'd never heard oimf a problem but the measurements are so far out there is something amiss.

Anyway I hope this seal does the trick. I got it from Victoria British, ordered before the TRF recommendations. Fingers crossed

Dave
 
I could have paid for my restoration if I had a dollar for every time I was told I was the “first to have a problem with that part”! There is a chronic problem with shoddy repro parts for our cars.
 
CJD said:
I could have paid for my restoration if I had a dollar for every time I was told I was the “first to have a problem with that part”! There is a chronic problem with shoddy repro parts for our cars.
Click to expand...
I'm still mad over the time a vendor told me that; when I knew that _I_ had not only complained, but returned the part in question, not once but twice!

I had actually gone there the third time with the intention of showing them what the problem was (their catalog was simply wrong about what cars the part in question would fit), but they weren't interested in what I had to say, or the parts I brought for "show and tell".
 
I have no doubt the reps are trained to respond that way...infuriating when you know they are not telling the truth!
 
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