Timing Cover Rope Seal: A Finale

Posted by Gordon Biggar on March 19, 1998 at 18:34:04

Again, many thanks for the inputs which I received.
Just to show you how events have a way of working out unpredictably, I ordered a pan gasket set from Bratton's and, low and behold, the rope gasket for the front of the pan had four flattened sides.It appears to have been made from the same 1/2" cylindrical stock that I had been using for the timin cover, but the flattened sides produces a diameter of 7/16", which was what I needed to close up the cover, still with some "assist."
I touched base with Walt Bratton.As it turns out, the 7/16" rope seal (described above) is included in their pan gasket set (# A 6781-A), and it is the seal shipped if one orders the timing cover seal (# A 6700) separately.Walt opened up one of the engine overhaul gasket sets (a Felpro item) while I was on the phone, and it turned out to be the 1/2" diameter seal.(Bratton's uses another supplier for their pan gaskets, and they buy the 7/16" diameter seal in bulk for the stand-alone orders.)This even surprised him.
Perhaps the pan gasket supplier has encountered enough complaints that it had altered the seal's design, and maybe Felpro is working off inventory.
I'm not sure what one does with this type of info, but if you are having a difficulty closing up timing covers with the cylindrical seal -- and you don't want to take the chance (remote?) of marring threads while levering the cover into place -- a smaller diameter seal does exist.
Regards and thanks,
Gordon
(The Department of Useless Knowledge)

Follow Ups:
Re: Not Useless at all. Joe March 20, 1998 at 08:34:28(0)
Re: Timing Cover Rope Seal: A Finale Dave Sturges March 19, 1998 at 20:44:48(0)

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