Went to change the front main seal today. Think I found out why the seal was bad...

At least you caught it before anything worse happened. I wonder what would cause that? It doesn't seem like there would be that much stress on the pulley under normal operation. I wonder if in the past someone tried to coax it on with a bit too much force?

Definitely a remnant of some ham-fisted previous attempt to replace the seal. The woodruff key was partially out of place, and showed obvious signs of having been peened by someone in an attempt to hold it in place while they re-installed the pulley.

Luckily, I had a spare pulley on the shelf (from my old 4/71 parts car), as well as a pair of new spare woodruff keys left over from my transmission rebuild (the Type A transmissions use the same keys). So the car is back together now, and all seems to be fine.

I've done that twice, just not to a Z car. The times it happened to me the key-way was not seated properly, the other when the equipment jammed and damaged the key. My be is the Key just wore out and bent, cracked, or something along that line.

That was defiantly gremlins working again

Good find. That's why you REGULARLY inspect for cleanliness and fluids. It's not always what you think. Make sure the keyway in the crank is not mushed also.

Arne,

I'm going to be replacing my front seal this weekend. From what I can see, the procedure is:

1 - Remove Fan

2 - Remove Alt Belt

3 - Remove Idler/Pully with pully tool

4 - Remove old seal & replace

5 - Reassemble

Is there more to this then what I have outlined above? Did you pack the seal in grease when you installed it? Any tribal knowledge that you can pass-on would be appreciated.

Is there more to this then what I have outlined above? Did you pack the seal in grease when you installed it? Any tribal knowledge that you can pass-on would be appreciated.

Sorry I missed this here. I answered in your other thread.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38539

The early 280 dampers are honed in about 3/8 of an inch so you can feel the key engage before torqueing down the crank bolt (a big improvement over the 240 dampers). If the key isn't centered in the damper it can cause big problems. They are still available from Nissan ($180).

Edited May 11, 201014 yr by Diseazd