Just stripped the end of my crankshaft

[Dangermouse]

[NAES]

Ok got the engine installed and fired up yesterday. Ran pretty well for not pretuning or anything. But of course an oil leak at the main seal reared its ugly head. Pulled the engine again this morning to see what I did wrong.

The integrity of the seal is definitely there. The oil is coming through the back of the flywheel where it mates with the crank. From there it weeps past the thin metal washer/seal, through the dowel pin holes and out the gland nut washer.

To recap, this is an 8 doweled 12v flywheel opened up to fit the end of a 40hp crank with only 4 dowel pins. I am currently not running an O-ring on the flywheel as I was told it wasn't needed due to the difficulty of getting it to seat properly after going over the 40hp crank snout.

Looking back I'm pretty sure that those 4 empty dowel pin holes are contributing to the leak along with the lack of an O-ring. Before I put it all back together I figured your guys input would be way better than my educated guesses.

Lastly the brand new clutch disc got oil soaked. Not horribly bad as theres no swelling of tue dics fibers or anything but still it sat in overnight. Is there any saving it?
_________________
Barndoor Mafia
Box On Wheels
SBS #00

[NAES]

_________________
Barndoor Mafia
Box On Wheels
SBS #00

[NAES]

_________________
Barndoor Mafia
Box On Wheels
SBS #00

[raydog]

You need the o-ring installed. The dowel holes have nothing to do with the leak, they are just letting the escaped oil out. Just noticed it's a 40hp, then I think you would need to use the crank to flywheel gasket.
_________________
Come on, It's not rocket science. KISS

[evanfrucht]

Yep. The general rule is that if the flywheel has an O-ring groove, then use it. If it doesn't, only then should you use a paper gasket. Using nothing is not even an option.
_________________
1967 Bug ( the daily rod )
1964 Fury Wagon ( the pavement shredder )

[NAES]

Ok cool. Thanks gor the replies. I'll pick up a new O ring and try this again.

Any thoughts on the clutch disc?
_________________
Barndoor Mafia
Box On Wheels
SBS #00

[evanfrucht]

Not sure about the clutch disc, maybe someone has some sort of magical solution, but I've always heard if they get contaminated with oil at all they need to be replaced.
_________________
1967 Bug ( the daily rod )
1964 Fury Wagon ( the pavement shredder )

[esde]

I've saved several discs over the years. Soak it in lacquer thinner and then let it bake in the sun on a good hot day. Sometimes a really oil soaked disc takes a few soak/ dry cycle to get clean. I've even set them on fire and burned the oil out, but please don't take that as good advice.
yours wasn't marinating in the oil for weeks and weeks, you should be fine.
_________________
modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[DurocShark]

My take is they're cheap enough to replace. Considering the amount of work to pull the engine back out, especially if the flywheel or pressure plate glaze, $35 or whatever they go for is cheap.
_________________
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[DurocShark]

I mean... I'm pulling a 10k engine to rebuild (ugh), but I won't reuse that disc. I'll buy new.
_________________
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[MrWhoopee]

Yup, soak it in gasoline and light it off, but only if you're stranded in the jungle hundreds of miles from the nearest parts store.
_________________
Craig ('51 WASP)
Rosie ('63 Double Cab)

[calvinater]

Maybe i missed it , how did you repair the threads?
_________________
"Albatross"!

[NAES]

[NAES]

Well I was warned that the end of the crank was on borrowed time at best.

I assembled everything with a new o-ring this time and felt the gland nut tore the remaining threads out. I'm kinds bummed but overall thankful it happened in the shop and not while driving.

So the next plan is to go through my parts and see if I can build a rock solid 1776 with the parts I have.

Thanks so much for all the help guys.

NAES
_________________
Barndoor Mafia
Box On Wheels
SBS #00

[Busstom]

Leaks, especially like that one that wet your friction disk, are one of the prime reasons I like to fire 'em up on a stand first...in which case the clutch assembly doesn't even need to be installed. You may consider cobbling together a crude run stand for the next build, lots of ideas in the Engine Stand thread.
Good luck on the next build