Calling all Pontiac 400/455 owners

[69TAPoser]

I am totally BUMMED to JUST find out about an issue with the rear oil pan seal on 400/455 blocks. I JUST got my motor/tranny in the car and a friend of mine gave me a "heads up" about the rear pan seal. :scared:

I have a Canton race pan and they use the 3 tab design for the rear seal. It appears this is VERY prone to leaking LARGE quantities of oil. Most people are now going to a cork gasket in this area vs. the rubber or drilling the pan for the additional tab design.
Anyone else heard about or had this issue??? Here is a link to the discussion on Performace Years:

http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/showthread.php?t=534604&highlight=canton+leak

I am so bummed right now.

Anyone else have this issue?

Phil

[NOT A TA]

I've had the Canton Road race pan in my Firebird a couple years now without any problems. I've used the car on the street(few thousand miles),drags (app. 100 passes high 13 low 14's) ECTA 135MPH class limit, and a half dozen NASA road track HPDE 2 day events. My advice is to teflon tape the dry sump provisions or they'll weep. I used wax and grease remover on the surfaces of the flange and unpainted block surface to promote the best adhesion of the silicone and made sure the rear corners were perfect when installing the pan. Used a torque wrench to prevent overtightening and tightened all the bolts progressivly and evenly.

I did make the mistake of adding oil to the original full line on the dipstick, after a discussion with Jim Butler about why it took like 9 quarts to fill a 7 Qt pan (purchased from Butler) had me dumping the oil, removing and dumping the filter, then starting from scratch with 7 quarts which includes the oil for the filter.

As with many internet "forum" discussions people mention problems so I read them with that in mind. There's all kinds of variables in the installation of any product, other products used to install it and skill level of the installer.

John

[Rubes]

I know this isnt what you asked about, but figured it is related. I didnt have problems with the pan seal, but had lots o problems with the rear main. I used the viton one, and found out that the groove in the block/cap for the oil seal is not neccessarily on the same centerline as the crank journal. this caused one half of the seal to not even contact the crank when installed. The rope seal would have absorbed this variance, but the viton one needed some mods to the block/cap to work right. I also dont use silicone on gaskets anymore. I've had much better luck with Gaskasinch contact cement. It dont slide around as much, and its also MUCH easier to clean up if you need to replace.

Hope you get your problem fixed quickly. I had to remove the motor 4 times before I realized what was going on:hammer:
But at least I found the broken piston ring at the same time.

[Kiddi]

Vacuum pump would help....

[PT Goat]

I have the Canton RR pan on my 421 and although it's just break-in miles so far, I've got no leaks. I'll have to double-check to see which seal Paul Spotts used.

[Zee]

Canton race pan with the BOP-viton main seal and cork oil pan seal. So far as leak free as any old V8 can be. My block has been align honed as well. I never really thought of the centerline issue with that. I tried the three tab pan seal and it spit that out before any of the bolts were torqued.

[Scott Parkhurst]

I also have the Canton pan/B-O-P Viton seal on my 601. No leaks either...but I only have dyno time on it.

~SP~