Bigbassape

So after about 7 months of hard work, i got my 63 out on the road last week. Just doing short little shakedown runs. As far as I know the car sat since about the mid 90s, so things are bound to go wrong. Case in point, my rear main seal started leaking pretty severely on monday . I did a rear main on 64 Dynamic 88 many years ago, and if memory serves, I need to pull the lower flywheel cover, oil pan/splash tray and rear bearing cap. I have a sneaky pete, and a new rubber seal is on the way. Is there anything i've forgotten, or pitfalls particular to a 63 I need to watch out for? Thanks in advance!

-g

Charlie Jones

You've got it pretty well covered .
You do have a new pan gasket set , right ?

Bigbassape

Yessir!

Oldskeeper

I had to remove the distributer as well. Jacking up the front under the motor mount allowed me to remove the pan and still rotate the crankshaft.
One other point is the rope seal is held in with notches cut into the groove to stop the rope from rotating. It takes about 20 minutes for the oil to work it's way around the new rubber seal if you don't add a small amount of sealent in the locking grooves before installing the new rubber one. Not all 63 blocks have the grooves.

Bigbassape

good to know! The hardest thing about that 64 was getting the old rope seal out.
what sealant would you recommend?

Bigbassape

Started getting into it this afternoon. Am I correct in the assumption that I'll have to disconnect the rear mounts to get the lower flywheel housing off? will a Jackstand under the transmission keep it stable?

Oldskeeper

Hi Bigbassape,
I used a 2x4 and a couple of clamps and hung it from the frame to support the transmission and also used a ratchet strap to keep everything from falling.
For sealent I use the Ultra Black gasket maker by Permatex, use just enough to add a small skim coat and fill the grooves for locking the rope in place. You don't want gasket sealent to get on the seal face or the seal won't work correctly. In other words use sparingly
Steve