rear main seal input, in too far?
 

I was putting in a new rear main seal and one side went in a bit too far so I just pushed in the other sides so they are all equal depth. What do you guys think? will this leak or be ok?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313519010
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313519010
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313519010
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313519010
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1313519010

Looks good to me. You should have been able to feel it bottom out in the seal holder. If anything the actual sealing lip on the seal will be riding on a new part of the crank to help it seal better. Volvo does not have a step in the head for the cam seal to seat against for this reason. When it leaks and you put a new one in you slid it back just a little more.lol

It will leak just because you don't want it to. I hate changing RMS.

Looks good as far as I can tell from the pics. I obsessed about pushing mine in too far and ended up buying a second one and re-doing it. Mine was pushed in a bit further than yours, but the reason I re-did it was that it was crooked and I couldn't get it even the first time.

I think getting it straight is more important than it being slightly deeper than you want it.

cool, i will be putting the new clutch in and installing my tranny back on today :) so fun

Yeah, I think I hated the clutch install more than anything else I did on my car. The real bummer was that I ended up pulling the whole motor/tranny anyway AFTER the clutch was done.

I purposely set all new seals in ~1/8" further than what came out. This has worked well for cam, crank and rear main seals.

I have seen and studied wear on steel cylindrical parts from seals at work. Hard to believe...but it happens. By not setting the new seal in exactly the same spot you can actually ensure it will do it's job -better-.

*EDIT: I actually think it's due to foreign materials in the lubricant medium becoming trapped in the seal groove. This causes fretting, where the greater surface irregularities can exceed the thickness of the lubricant film and cause wear on the rubber seal.

Well i did an RMS today but i faced two problems.....the oil seal did not flush with the bracket as the manual says but it weant more far inside and second i can see that the oil seal lip does not seal the crank 100%...i can slide a paper edge through the first lip,but it stucks as it shold be in the end of the second oil lip...
Those who had done it do you remember if the lip of seal touches the crank or not?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1353706843

something else that i noticed with the old oil seal is that the 2 lips do not come in the same line.If you take the seal of and let it hang on a pencil you will notice that the seal leans foward....
Am i wrong?

New engine? That looks clean.

Is there a diameter spec in the haynes manual for the crank seal surface? Might wanna check that out.

It looks pretty good. It does not look like it is in too far, but it looks kinds strange in the upper left side of the seal on the picture. It may just be the angle but all the seals I have changed rear mains, crank, cams ect. the seal is pretty snug all the way around the small gap you speak of would have me worried a bit. May be worth a trip to the parts store to see if another one fits better. That is a job you don't want to do twice since it is such a PITA.

No old engine from the 99 model.....
I just like to keep things clean.I am in the midle of a clutch-tranny job and cleaned eveything from bellhousing,subframe etc plus the back of the engine from silicone RTV and oils...

Thats further out than mine, so you are definitely Ok. I did my clutch and swapped the seal and ended up pushing it wayyy too far in. I am going to have to be very careful next time and drill it and pull it out with a screw.. Lol

This is my RMS, its barely just past flush. This was installed with the FM tool.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1353829934

Doesnt leak.

That's interesting. I used the FM tool as well and mine came out just a little proud. Not a lot, but definitely noticeable.