440 rear main seal... thoughts

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Hughes Engines has a very involved procedure and some have had success with it.
I know how you feel!!
That's funny. Hughes rebuilt my best friend's 440. It's had a rear main leak since then, which quickly ruined the dual-disc clutch they swore he'd need for an all-iron-manifold engine. He got it down to just a very slight weep but it still spots the garage floor, which drives him nuts. It never leaked a drop before being rebuilt. I'm going to mention the Fast Fish part to him, though, along with possibly having the cap ground a bit. Hopefully one, the other, or both will finally put a stop to it.
 
You know you can get a one piece rear main seal for our engines, right?
 
I always slightly clock the seal and have never had a leak. Nothing is going to line up two seal halves any better than clocking the seal away from the parting line.
 
I use the factory seal retainer, alignment pins, offset the seal halves slightly above the parting lines, and the retainer/block alignment goes where it needs to go. No leaks ever.
still wont work if the stocker wasn`t machined right ...
 
still wont work if the stocker wasn`t machined right ...

For sure. Major misalignment is more of a problem when switching from the more forgiving production line rope seal to the neoprene. Some of the rope seals even leaked when new.
 
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For sure. Major misalignment is more of a problem when switching from the more forgiving production line rope seal to the neoprene. Some of the rope seals even leaked when new.
we switched a neo seal on the hemi (back in the day) , just for ease of install. , but never had a problem on it either way , street hemi`s were machined "right" , never found one thing that wasn`t like the factory said ir was ...
 
I use the factory seal retainer, alignment pins, offset the seal halves slightly above the parting lines, and the retainer/block alignment goes where it needs to go. No leaks ever.

You say you "clocked" the seal. I assume you did the old "trick" of misaligning the seal joints with the block to retainer joints? I never do that. I put it in as designed, put a dab of RTV on either end of the seal, put RTV on the retainer and assemble. Everyone I know whose tried the misalign trick has had a leak. I just don't do it. I hope it works.

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