Rear Main Seal Installation - HELP!

[questforbalance]

Help! I followed my 101projectsformyboxster instructions for installation for the rear main seal and it has been disastrous so far. I have ruined two main seals so far. In the first case, I tapped the rear main seal in lightly with a finish nail hammer, but the lower left portion of the seal went in way too far. The upper right was hard to get in. I then got another rear main seal and tried it again with a tool I made from PVC pipe. The pipe was 4-inches, fit over the rear main seal and then I glued another pipe over that one to create a 3 mm overlap at the bottom. The outer pipe is larger than the bore, so it creates a stop. But again, the rear main seal went in cocked. The lower left went all the way in again. This time I banged harder with my hammer on the upper right and the left bottom went in deeper, all the way back to the chain. The upper right went in a little bit more. Another rear main seal ruined. What am I doing wrong? How do I get this seal in here? Help! Help! Wayne, help!

[afterburn 549]

In general I put seals in freezer over night.
maybe in your case a dab of lube on the edge to help get it started?
Perhaps machine a slight taper on case edge?

[wad]

I have had really good success with putting Curil T on the case, then while leaving the plastic sleeve on the RMS, using a home made tool to install the RMS. I made the tool out of a 3" white pvc pipe connector, I made a cut down one side so I could expand it to fit over the end of the crank. Then with the RMS and the plastic sleeve on the crank end I gently tapped the back of the PVC coupler with my rubber mallet, it pushed the RMS on evenly and I had great success the first time.


Just don't go too far.