After a few days of fighting problems and tracking down small parts, I finally was able to fire up my new engine today. First engine I've rebuilt in over 20 years.

Imagine my surprise when it cranked for about 2 seconds and fired right up!! :hurray:. Ran the idle at about 2200 and was running good (other than exhaust leaks) Oil pressure was about 80 and water temp around 200. I had no idea what the timing was set at. I was trying to adjust it by ear, but I could turn the dist quite a bit. At least 1" in either direction from where it was set when I first fired it up. I probably could have adjusted it better if I dropped the idle to around 800, but was worried about runing my new cam (which I think I did anyhow - had some popping after about 5 min of running)

Noticed lots of smoke from underneath the car, but thought it was just some oil I have previously 'spilled'. Wrong, it was the #&%@ rear seal!!! :mad:

Are there any other options other than me pulling my engine again to replace this seal?

:(

Sorry to hear about your engine.

Now I am worried about mine. I am currently building a motor, just put the rear main seal in yesterday.

What brand of real seal is that?

Did you put silicone around the outside of the seal?

Did you install it in the right direction?

After a few days of fighting problems and tracking down small parts, I finally was able to fire up my new engine today. ...Imagine my surprise when it cranked for about 2 seconds and fired right up!! :hurray:. ...
Noticed lots of smoke from underneath the car, but thought it was just some oil I have previously 'spilled'. Wrong, it was the #&%@ rear seal!!! :mad:

Are there any other options other than me pulling my engine again to replace this seal?

You'd be better off pulling it if that was the problem. You sure it is the rear main seal? I had oil pouring out the back of my block through the "new" lifter oil galley plug (had a 1/64" hole drilled in the center...)... I suppose it is a long shot that you have a similar problem ...

The trouble it takes to pull the motor more than makes up for the hassle of trying to do it under the car...plus, if you did fudge the cam...well, more work there. :(

Make sure it is not tranny fluid, or that the oil is not coming from somewhere else. Inspect your valve lash, make sure nothing's backed off. You could also pull the intake and inspect your lifters and cam lobes...keep your fingers crossed and dont get discouraged.

I pulled the bell and clutch, installed the oil priming tool and had my son run it as I was under the car looking for the leak. After a few seconds I saw this:

:(

I pulled the bell and clutch, installed the oil priming tool and had my son run it as I was under the car looking for the leak. After a few seconds I saw this:Great picture! Can't have any more evidence than that. Sorry about the problem, though. Hope you have it fixed quick so you can enjoy it.

That's odd, because the seal doesn't actually have any pressure on the back side of it. It has a big gap for oil to fall back into the pan first, and it's job is to catch the remaining oil. The oil pan itself would have oil flowing across the joints on it's way back down to the sump, but you'd almost have to have forgotten to install the rear gasket to have that much oil coming out. I'd double check the galley plugs up above as mentioned, just to be safe. Either that, or you forgot to install half of your seal. ;)

Is it a GenV?

They have that little o-ring between the rear main and the block.

I don't see any galley plugs. Would I have to remove the crank to get to it? Also, the engine is a 71 402, Gen IV?

I'm with Brian, as bad as it is leaking, are you sure you did not install the seal backwards?

I'm with Brian, as bad as it is leaking, are you sure you did not install the seal backwards?

I don't think so, but it wouldn't surprise me if I did. I was double checking everything. I went to a few parts stores for new seal and pan gasket, and no one has the seal!

The engine is pulled, and might be worse than I thought. When I pulled #5 plug, oil came out! Not good. Not sure what I'm going to do now. A little frustrated at this point. The passenger side pipes looked nice, but driver side were all burnt looking. My Pypes Race Pro muffler on driver side looked bad

wow, not sure what would cause all that...

I don't see any galley plugs. Would I have to remove the crank to get to it? Also, the engine is a 71 402, Gen IV?

Wow:(... oil coming out everywhere.

The oil galley plugs mentioned are on the rear of the block, at about 10 and 2 o-clock from the end of your crank.

Looks like your oil is getting pushed out the exhaust so a considerable amount it getting into that cylinder somehow. To me, that says either no piston rings intalled or a cracked piston, or worse yet, a cracked block from the lifter galley to the cylinder although there might be a water jacket in between so that might be unlikely.

Some dissassembly is probably in order here to find the problem(s). Keep us posted.

I pulled the drivers side head, and didn't see any surprises, like a hole in the piston or anything. Went to a local machine shop to ask some questions, and showed him a sample of the oil I drained. He said there was metal in the oil, but that was normal for a brand new freshly fired engine.

I ended up just taking the engine to him and he's going to check it out, install new seals and head gaskets and hopefully I'll have it back in a week, as long as there's nothing major wrong. Kind of sucks, had two cruises I wanted to attend this week, but at least when I get it back, it should run ok

I hope he is pulling the pistons out! Oil coming out the spark plug hole is more like a ring problem than a gasket!

that looks weird like the crank flange is rubbing on the rear lip of the oil pan????
what did the shop find or figure out???????? :(

Just received a call from my 'new' machine shop. Things aren't looking good. First off, one of the valves on #5 never had the valve seal installed, which caused all of the oil in #5. They also said I had lots of gas in with the oil, which could either be a bad diaphragm in my new mechanical pump, or else there's a problem with my brand new Holley Street Avenger 770.

Also said I didn't do a real good job of gaping my new rings (I gapped them ok, but never removed any rough edges) Said they weren't that bad though. My bearings were already showing signs of wear, and were wearing unevenly, and I only ran the motor 15 min max (I think I may have ran low on oil as it was running). Also had a blown head gasket, which he believes may have been caused by last shop not decking the block

So now I'm pretty much going with a fresh rebuild, which includes new rod/main bearings, new rings, deck block/heads, new ARP rod bolts (and doing something to the rods - sounded time consuming?) new pickup on my new oil pump and all gaskets, new rockers studs and a few other tings he mentioned. So all of the labor will be a little over $1200 and parts around $300,

Sooo, for my 67 Chevelle that I bought last year at this time (Aug 10th) for $4500, will now have close to $20,000 into it in just a year, and it still needs quarters and paint and this and that... :sad:

Good thing I'm already divorced, or my wife would divorce me.

Oh, and as for the rear main seal, some dumb ass (me) forgot to install it :clonk:

Sorry to hear the bad news Bill.

The good news is it sounds like this new shop is going to take care of you.
If you had any second thoughts about part selection the first time around... here's your chance to make changes.

I bet you never forget to install a rear main seal in a motor for the rest of your life.:noway:

Keep us informed of your progress.