Here is what held me up for so long:
First, it was the cam chain tensioner, then the mechanical seal. The tensioner issue was solved once I found a good used part on ebay, but the mechanical seal continued giving me a headache. The first seal I ordered did not fit, so I ended up sending it back, and ordering a new one. This time, Honda confirmed that it is the right part number, despite the fact that i could not fir the seal into the opening. Since both Honda and the dealership were telling me that I was wrong. I dropped the rear cover off at the dealership and told them to press it in if they were so smart. Well, they couldn't.
After some extra research, I found out that the earlier mechanical seals were 27.5mm in diameter, while the newer ones are 28mm in diameter. So, unwilling to take the chances with the dealer, I brought the rear cover to my friendly local machine shop. I had to wait three days for the guy to finish his automated batches, and then an hour while he worked on my cover. He did it while I waited.
First, he ended up making the hole true and round. It was off by a couple thousands of an inch. We then figured out the proper dimensions, he punched it into his CNC mill, and the machine did the rest. We figured a good tight fit, with the difference between the seal and the opening of 0.0015". A dab of blue Loctite on the seal, and we pressed it in. It worked like a charm.
Since I had the cover off anyway, I also ended up replacing the oil seals on the shifter and the shaft drive.
Tomorrow, if I get the chance, I'll be finally able to close the motor up. But first I'll have to replace the O-rings on the coolant pipes, and make sure everything seals the way it should.
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I was at the same point this morning realizing the new mech seal is larger than the old. Now to find someone to enlarge the opening for me.
Should be fairly easy - any decent machine shop can do it for you. If not, some people have used abrasive wheels to do it at home.
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