Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

So during the rebuild process with my motor I noticed some grooves in the rear main seal mating surface.

I heard of getting a speedi-sleeve and sounds like a good thing to do while the engine is apart. I have had a hell of a time finding one that fits and noticed the only aftermarket number (99315) is a sleeve that will be 0.827" wide (in the catalog). The crank nub is ~0.600" and the sleeve would stick out a good 1/4" or so.

Am I finding the wrong part for ALL parts suppliers or are they assumed to be cut down to size? I'm not sure the best method to modify a sleeve to that size but really don't want to finish the build without doing that since I believe there MAY have been a leak from the rear main when I started this rebuild...

Anyone done this on our cars or ran into a similar issue? When I look it up by diameter it gives me that same part so I think they are ALL the same width regardless of application and they must be modified. How should they be modified cleanly?

I can add pix later if requested.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

Are you sure they don't have a proper width ring? On a B16 I built a long time ago, it had a mean groove on the crank and so I found a sleeve than went around the rear main seal and tightened it up. It never leaked, I believe the ring was from fel pro, but it fit the seal thickness perfectly. Let me dig and see if I can find the source.

Mating surface, do you mean the little housing the rear main goes in or the crank, I assumed crank.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

yup the crank. I found a felpro part 16275 that looked good but didnt have the right install tool... so I got a different (still federal mogul brand) and it was different... I think the 16275 was a bearing seal? Not sure... but im going to see if I have luck tomorrow at work getting it either turned down or milled down.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

i show national part number 99315 as working, assuming you have a B18C in your car - available at advance auto parts.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

That's the exact part I used and it was 1/4" too long.

However, yesterday we used a large chop-saw style cutoff wheel (about 12" diameter?) with coolant, etc while mounting a small 6-jaw chuck in a vise... It cut fairly well but still had some deformation at the end of the cut, so we put it in the ID/OD grinder to finish it up (since it was already in the chuck used on the grinder). Installed it last night and fit like a glove.

Here are a couple pictures of the final product/assembly. Forgot to get before pictures :-x

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

Nice!

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

Here is the "before" picture from a pic I took after washing the crank...

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

VTECIntegra9,

Thanks for the info. I did this repair to my crankshaft and it worked great. I would like to add some information for anyone else trying this. My flywheel had a recess on the backside to located it on the crankshaft. I had to cut the sleeve shorter by the recess dimension (0.19"). If you don't do this, the flywheel will push the sleeve back as you tighten the bolts. This might not be a problem as long as it's not pushed back into the block. I hope this helps someone else trying this repair.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

How did u cut the sleeve? Like what tools? Don't have lathes and shit ^^ at my house, so just hoping...

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

That's interesting - I didn't account for that when I made the sleeve. Unfortunately I can't really check it but I believe my flywheel's recess wasn't larger than the chamfer on the end of the crank. Also interested on how you cut yours.

Also interesting is that there are no beers shown in the photos above... I must have really zoomed in.

Interesting.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

I also have a groove on the snout of the crank, from oil pump seal..haven't seen that one listed yet as available. Might just try it..move seal a little in front. really want to make sure the clutch housing stays dry tho, wont be looking in there for awhile, I hope.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

Wow, I am an idiot.

Ran into the same problem with the engine I just finished building for our racecar and my solution was to tig weld a bead all the way around in the groove and then I had my machinist turn it down to the same size as the rest of the journal. He also polished it along with the other journals. It worked like a charm, but wow that sleeve thing would have been so much easier.

:ugh: for me.

Re: Crankshaft (Seal) Repair Sleeve?
 

B & B,

I used a dremel tool mounted in a dremel drill press fixture with a cut-off disc. I've attached a jpeg of the fixture. Cost $35.00. I had the dremel. I adjusted the height of the drill to trim off the top of the sleeve then put the sleeve's flange side flat against the fixture and slowly rotated until I broke through. Be careful not to stay in one area to long due to the heat the tool generates. I dresses the sleeve with a small file to remove any burrs. No more oil leak!