Flywheel seal differences and new head sealer goo

[Captain Pike]

Recent disscussions have brought to light the crappy quality of formally trusted vendors. Victor Reins(good) on the left

Elring on the right(bad). The elring sez it's made in the good ole Republic Of China__so nuff said there. I f__ed and used one on the 85 westy___pisses a silver doller size spot every time I run it
Notice the width difference as well

The head seal goo has changed as well to orange.

I used it on the inner side of the seal but still had some of the black goo for the head surface. Go with what you know.
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LEARN TO SELF RESCUE
59 Panel bus, 1966 Single cab. 73' 181. 73 Westy. 91' H6 Vanagon 3.3L.
....Bad Sneakers....

[tencentlife]

Here's some more info:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2...p;start=40


The large is the front flywheel seal (aka the "rear mainseal"). The ones that come with the sets are pretty inferior. Three obvious measurable aspects differ from the OEM seal: the depth of the shell front to back, the thickness of the tension spring around the seal lip inside, and the weight of the shell material.

I have 4 different ones, and took measurements: a Reinz cheapo that come in the gasket set; an Elring cheapo from their set, the same as the one in your pic; a Reinz orange Viton that sells for $10 by itself at VC; and the Sabo all-black one, $30 from GW, that they claim is the OEM VW seal.

Reinz cheapo is dark purple in color. The shell depth is 9.8mm, spring width only 1.9mm. Weight 48g.

Elring is black, grey, and red. Depth 10.1mm, spring 2mm. But this one weighs only 40g! Very thin shell material.

Reinz Viton is 11.8mm and 2.25mm, 51g.

Sabo is 12.1 and 2.5mm. You can feel in your hand how much heavier this one is: 61g!

So the more expensive ones have a deeper and meatier shell, and stronger spring to keep pressure on the seal lip. The difference in weight between the cheap Elring and cheap Reinz is remarkable. The Sabo is even much much heavier than the Reinz Viton even though dimensionally they're very close. The deeper shell means that when they are driven into the case until they bottom out, they present the seal to a wider part of the flywheel flange, which is flared, so there should also end up being a bit more lip tension. There are other slight differences in the lip design. And of course they are made of different compounds.

I think the Reinz Viton is a good value, and they work pretty well for me (VW's mainseal design has always been a weakness so getting a perfect seal can be hit or miss, anyway. I find that they often need to run-in awhile, as in they leak some for awhile and then stop). But the Sabo, although expensive, is truly bomber. That heavy shell will really resist distortion under pressure. GW claims that they only use this one, and that they bought up all the available stock. I haven't searched to see if they're available elsewhere.



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Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

[funagon]

I've ordered the van-cafe engine gasket set a few times and it always comes with the good Victor Rienz seal, as well as other quality parts.
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1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[tencentlife]

When I've bought the Reinz gasket set sold by GW it has always had the purple seal, which is not the same as the Reinz Viton orange seal. Is VC adding the Viton to their sets? I wouldn't use the purple one that comes in the set; only the Viton or the Sabo. I have a growing stack of unused purple Reinz and red/black Elring seals in my shop. I'll sometimes use the Viton on my own motors, but all my rebuilds for sale are getting the Sabo.
_________________
Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

[funagon]

I bought the Vic Rienz complete engine gasket set from Van-cafe in '06 and '07 and it came with an orange seal, just like the one in the first photo. And it hasn't leaked.
_________________
1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

[?Waldo?]

[tencentlife]

Dunno. Why? Want 'em?
_________________
Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

[tencentlife]

[?Waldo?]

[Alan Brase]