George P. Richardson wrote:
>
> I understood that the crankshaft has spirals cut into it to push the oil
> back into the engine while it's running. If that's the case and you put a
> rubber seal around it, it'll just get cut to ribbons.
>
George,
Many of the earlier engines had those spirals in the rear of the
crankshaft. And it is correct that the motion of the crank pulls air
from the rear of the engine through that channel keeping a positive
suction on the rear of the engine and the oil inside (no mention here of
other oil leaks).
Here is my experience with oil seals inserted in that type engine. The
engine in question is a 1147 cc Mk2 Spitfire engine (My son's). When he
bought the car, it literally poured oil out the back end. Taking it
apart revealed that some dpo had installed a makeshift later type oil
seal in the rear of the engine. A new gasket set, needless to say did
not contain a rear seal and checking with British Parts Northwest I was
advised that none is required. That was verified by the Haynes manual
that refers to it as a "scroll type oil seal".
After overhaul, the oil leak susbided substantually.
I might note that the seal that was previously installed was not cut to
ribbons, but did not fit right either and therefore leaked.
Joe Curry '63 Spit
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