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I am replacing the rear main seal on my 2001 camaro, and for the life of me, I can't get the GM rear main seal installation tool to work. It looks like the bolt circle for the two knurled screws is slightly off from the bolt circle on the rear of the crank. Has anyone else come across this problem?
If the thing bolted up the way it should, I definately would have been happy I got it... but unless I find some crazy mistake I am making in trying to bolt it up, it seems as though you are correct on this one :-)
Honestly, do it this way... Put the seal in the cover (make sure the seal and crank surface are DRY!). put the cover on the motor and put the bolts in but leave them loose enough to move to cover around (it wont move much). Take a straight edge and lay it across the oil pan mating surface and across the cover and make sure the margin is the same by slightly rotating the cover. Tighten bolts. Thats all there is to it. The seal itself will center the cover and you just make sure the margins are the same on both sides where the oil pan bolts down.
Well, big thank you to Thunder Racing, once again they saved the day for me. Do not order this part by description with Kent-Moore... For some reason they have 3 different rear main seal installation tools on record for use with the LS1. I spoke to Jason over at Thunder and he gave me the following part number off of the tool in his KM LS1 tool kit: J41479, which includes several pieces with sub numbers (i.e. J41479-2). I am thinking that the rear main seal installation tool P/N J35621-B, despite being labeled in the catalog and with Kent Moore as being for LS1's is actually for Gen1 and Gen 2 Engines. The fact that it comes labeled for use on 4.3L/5.0L/5.7L engines is another tipoff... When I got it I thought it was weird it didn't say 5.3L/5.7L/6.0L engines, but the PN checked out. Oh well, I will just consider myself lucky that I didn't try to force it and mess up the threads in the crankshaft.
Remove the whole cover, freeze the seal in the freezer for about 20 min. warm up the cover with the shop light sitting on top of it, then drop it in. It may require light tapping to go in, but it goes in pretty smooth.
__________________ 02 SS M6:
HKE 454 CI LS2, ET Performance 265cc heads, Harrop 55mm I/R intake, "The Beast" camshaft 243/254 .653"/.644" 110 LSA+0, Full Suspension, External fuel system, Moser 12 bolt.
Rear Crank Seal Installer P/N J35621-B Problems 
GM "special" tools are a waste of money.
