Are these types of front main seals no longer available for our cars? The front main seals I see in rebuild kits are seals encased in metal circular frames that do not flare out and fit like the frame on this seal. The newer seals just look like they're supposed to press into the cup in the timing chain cover and sit there. These seals press in and the flare of the seal frame covers the gap between the seal and the cover.

I prefer the type of seal you show above. The last set I bought was an "ACL" brand and it has this style seal. They tend to be a lot more tolerant of any timing case misalignment. ACL is an Aussie brand, another option is NOS ,I bought a couple off eBay a while back.

Can't say that I've ever had any issues with non-flared seals; but I put a very thin coat of #2 Permatex on the outside before installing, if it is a paint coated shell.

The engine I had problems with was " built" for want of a better word by a self proclaimed Mopar specialist shop over here. The V lip new type seals just kept getting chewed up and leaked badly. It appears they line bored the block and never bothered to align the timing case. When I got my hands on it (it's not my car). I fitted the old type seal and it worked fine. From what I could measure in the car the cover was miles out of alignment. I'm sure if the engine was correctly assembled with attention taken to align the timing cover the new seals would work well, I was just impressed with how much the original seal can tolerate and seal properly so I stuck with that. We never bothered spending time to correct the core problem simply coz this engine has other problems as well, we are going to just keep it running till another engine I'm slowly building goes in,

It does seem like the flared seals are not available and it's only the ring-type seals now.

If you can't see any reason for why a company changed something, it's probably because it saves them money somehow.

The non-flared seals are likely cheaper to make or have broader application than the similar flared type.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

Very true!

I think you will find one on eBay... Not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same seal in other Mopar engines. If you reaaaallly want one I could send you one, but the postage costs would be pretty expensive for a simple seal..

True. Just annoys me how the flared seat version so nicely fits and seals the indentation where it's intended vs. the other seal that just kinda sticks in there and seems unfinished. No biggie. But t'was curious. Thanks for the offer! But nah, not that important.

No probs at all,the new style seal should work OK...as long as make sure it is very well aligned to the centreline of the crank ,there is an article here somewhere. You may even need to redrill the two dowel locating holes to get it right.

I drilled out the dowel holes on my 225 timing chain cover. Now it leaks oil from those holes so I have to use RTV sealer on them to stop the leak. I know Doc recommends doing that if you need to float the timing cover to get it aligned correctly. In my case, I had assembled the engine, re-installed it in the car, discovered the damper was not on all the way, had to remove it with the engine IN the car, remove the timing chain cover and re-install it. The re-installation of the timing chain cover was impossible with thickness of the new front oil pan seal and the dowel pins in the way, so in the end I was forced to drill them out to get the thing back together. But with the leak I'm getting from that now (it's seeping from the gasket that's a little more exposed now than it should be) I would recommend not to drill them out, if you can at all avoid it.

Welcome to the world of old cars. I don't remember the exact procedure mentioned in the article,but "drilling out" the hole to allow movement for alignment is not the way I would do it. I'd remove the dowels completely,align the cover to centreline of crank and see how far it's out. Either weld up the holes on the cover and redrill the correct size holes for proper location or drill out both cover and block for oversize dowels,or make offset dowels if possible. Really,by enlarging the holes to allow the cover to float is the same as just removing the dowels completely,they aren't doing a thing,except allowing a new spot for an oil leak. The new type seals will not tolerate a gross mis alignment like the old seals did. Remember these engines were manufactured to a very,very wide tolerance,the old type seal was made to allow for that. The "V" lip style seals are a far more modern design,used very effectively in modern engines that are built to tolerances that are far more accurate than our engines were.