need advice on 62 caddy rear main seal

i have a friend who has a 63 coupe de ville (engine is out of a 62) and his rear main started leaking, well more like pouring oil. We were wondering, is this a rope seal? if so, any tricks or hints on making it seal the way it's supposed to? we plan on pulling the engine and trans out anyway as there is a bunch of half assed stuff from the previous owner to fix.

thanks,
averagejoe

 

I was told by an automotive machinist friend that a 318 Mopar rear main seal would work on my 1957 ,365 inch Cad engine. Your 1962/63 engine is the same engine, except 390 inch. Luckily I found that my oil leak was not the rear main, so I didn't get to validate that the Mopar seal actually works, but it would be worth checking out when you have your motor out and apart. To answer your original question, the original seal is a rope seal. Bob

 

thanks well have to give it a try

 

Hey AverageGuy, I just got a new modern style neoprene rear main seal for my
'56 Olds 324 that is designed to replace the old rope seal. It is NOT one of those
weird filmy plastic things that comes in many gasket sets today.
I got it from Terrill Machine in DeLeon,Texas.
A bit pricy ($50) but well worth it if it works as good as it looks.
I have not installed it yet. It's worth a call to see if they have one for your Cad.