[DeTomaso] SORRY - but on the Mainseal leak........Re: Fw: Pandora: It's deja vu all over again...

[cengles at cox.net]

Dear Dennis, 

You cad. 

No aftermarket steel crank. The Engine Research and Development Department at the Pantera Research Institute is on a tight budget so stock cranks are used and persuaded to perform better than stock. The rear main seal leak with the aftermarket cranks seems to be a real problem. I recall that Tom Todak's engine suffered the same problem due to a forged aftermarket crank being ever so slightly too much undersized. My problem was builder error (just a tad too much silicone......) and would have been a royal PITA to fix from underneath the car. 

Remember Werner Von Braun's inspriration words: "Research is what we're doing when we don't know what we're doing." 

Words to live by at the Pantera Research Institute, Chuck Engles


---- Mad Dog Antenucci <teampantera at yahoo.com> wrote:
>Woops....sorry....didn't mean to send my last email to you AND the List!
>They put those buttons too close to one another ;-)
>
>Curious though if your main seal leak is from an 'aftermarket steel crank'....I've got that problem and talking to Russ, Dick and others I am hearing my choices are go back to a stock crank ore reseal and more then likely face the same problem with in a few months.....decided to live with it for the rest of the summer since I've been driving the car on weekends and Silverstate is in 3 weeks
>
>
>Mad Dawg Antenucci
>Team Pantera Racing
>The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing
>www.teampanteraracing.com
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Charles Engles <cengles at cox.net>
>To: detomaso at realbig.com
>Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 6:20:51 PM
>Subject: [DeTomaso] Fw: Pandora: It's deja vu all over again...
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Charles Engles" <cengles at cox.net>
>To: "Paul - Home" <thedrol at pobox.com>
>Cc: <detomasoregistry at gmail.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 6:29 PM
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pandora: It's deja vu all over again...
>
>
>>Dear Paul and Chris,
>>
>>You wrote:
>>
>>
>>"If you have a 10-quart oil pan it isn't likely that you will be able to
>>drop the pan once you change the cross member to a removable one. I
>>found that there just isn't space between the frame rails, shift linkage
>>and hoses to get the 10 quart pan out unless you've modified the windage
>>tray appropriately. It may be possible if you remove more stuff. Its
>>been too long since I installed my 10 quart pan while the engine was in
>>the car to remember what interferes with it."
>>
>>$$$$$$$ I did this during a chapter of engine building misadventure.
>>Unfortunately, I can't recall exactly what the misadventure was, but I do
>>recall dealing with this problem. The hangup after removal of the cross
>>brace and oil pan bolts was the shift linkage. I was stumped and a real
>>mechanic showed me the trick of loosening the nut on the trunion support
>>to permit the linkage to move ever so slightly out of the way in order to
>>get the pan off. I also recall that we had to modifiy the windage tray
>>to permit re-installation.
>>
>>The next misadventure was a leaking rear main seal. I
>>remembered the unpleasantness of the above mentioned operation and took a
>>stiff triple shot of scotch and water and pulled the darn engine and
>>proceeded to replace the rear main seal---voila no more leak. In my
>>opinion, the engine out and in was a slightly lesser PITA than the very
>>messy in-car job from below........
>>
>>I would agree with Larry and resign yourself to live with
>>it for now and await the fullness of time for definite action.
>>
>>
>>Warmest regards, Chuck "Engine
>>Misadventures" Engles
>