This bloody car is driving me mad.

Went to York today to get my twin webbers set up post SVA (4th attempt) and the car blew the crankshaft oil seal whilst on the rolling road being set up.

Doh....

Anyone changed one? What sort of a job is it?

Can I do it without removing the sump?

front one or rear one?

Front one. It's P****d oil all over the engine bay and the car

I am pretty sure ("certain"?) that you can change that seal without taking much apart. Take off the front crank pulley bolt, remove the front pullies and there it is as far as I can remember. Pull it out with a seal remover and knock a new one in.

The concern is why did it go? Is the breather free to breath? The only reasons that I have seen crank seals "go" are 1) blocked breathers or excessive breathing, or 2) corrosion that has crept under the seal when the vehicle hasn't been used for ages.

I had the same experience with mine - I don't know to this day why it did it

However I was able to change it in situ without taking the sump off and it is fine now.

Good luck

Mark

Thanks guys. I was advised by the bloke in the place that was setting it up to put an extra pipe breather and catch tank in from the cam cover.

Which I will do.

The breather valve in the pinto block is sprung loaded andopened by carb intake suction in the normal setup. Fit twin webers, etc with the valve still in place and you run on 5psi of crankcase pressure. Something gives!
Remove the valve and grind off the bottom 2 mm and the plate and spring fall out and you can then use a catch tank. (Burton sell a valveless replacement with wide bore tube for this situation also.)

Thanks Dusty. Looks like I didn't modify the engine post Webber fitment. I'll take a look in the Burton Catalogue for what you mention.

So basically, I am looking for a replacement for the engine breather in the block?

In the burton catalogue. This will eleviate my engine breathing problems?

yep, that's what he's saying, and that's quite correct. A breather pipe tapped into the rocker cover (as the rolling road man said) will work as well but will tend to blow more oil out into the catch tank so you may need to empty it and top up more often.

A modded block breather "box thingy" will do the job better