Crank snout bent?

MufflerBearings69 · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:59 pm Post subject: Crank snout bent?

Ok guys, this is one I may be overthinking but bear with me for a second-

Long story short- the 302 in our '95 GT is coming out for new heads (finally!) and I notice front seal on the crank has been leaking and dont know why.

A few years ago when my brother owned it, the original balancer let loose and the weight spun. This caused a nasty vibration and the weight had chewed up the timing cover pretty good.

I bought a brand new SFI approved balancer and a new timing cover and installed them, along with a timken brand seal. The damn thing has leaked ever since though...

I have been reading about the crank snouts getting bent on 302s and wonder if anyone knows anything about that phneomenon?

How do I check it? We were planning on tearing this 302 down unless we have to, as we have 393 c.i. desires on the back burner for later Twisted Evil

af2 · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 1:05 am Post subject:

Crank snout means more main problems down the road!!! Mains come to mind will be affected! Shocked

af2 · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 1:10 am Post subject:

V blocks front and rear and measure the front to get an exact measurement!

clay · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 8:25 am Post subject:

You could use a dial indicator and a magnetic base. Remove the balancer so you can get directly to the crank for measurement then screw a short bolt (or the original with some sort of spacers) so it bottoms out and you can turn the motor. Stick the base to something steel, put the indicator on the crank and give it a spin. Good luck. Clay

MufflerBearings69 · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:

Dial indicator and magnetic base sounds clever, could take off the oil pan (have to anyways) and stick it to the block...

Sounds like I really need to take a close look at this thing, this could be catastrophic misery later...

I will teardown tonight when the shop temp is back in the 2-digit range, too hot right now to want to do much with it

MufflerBearings69 · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject:

False alarm- what i couldnt see very well was that said seal was still clean and dry, and that the "new and improved design" one-piece rubber oil pan gasket leaks like hell.

Lame as heck, back to the old style gasket that will seal... I dont care if it takes an extra 3 minutes, it works! and is 12 bucks compared to 27 bucks...