camaronz28

I have had an oil leak for a while now and up until now i decided to fix it. I took out the transmission to replace my clutch as well. So I decided to check the rear of the engine and it came out really oily , from oil being spun around I suppose. It looked like the rear cover needs atttention due to dark spots around some bolts. Thats why I decided to just buy a new rear cover from gm with the rear main already installed.

Now my question is on how do you go about istalling the rear cover? I do not have the special tools nor the money to buy them. I have seen on here that it can be installed without them. But after searching for a while I could not find a definite procedure for installing the cover without the tools. I know it has to be flush with the oil pan, so does the oil pan need to be dropped or can the rear cover be installed on top of the oil pan? does RTV need to be applied all along the bottom of the rear cover? or just the bottom corners? Lastly what precautions do you need to take with the rear main to insure no leakage?

Thanks

camaronz28

Here is the top part of the cover

td1168

iTrader: (2)

I think you'll be fine if you just barely draw the bolts up snug in the rear cover and then tighten the 2 long rear oil pan bolts before tightening the rear cover bolts the rest of the way. The 2 long oil pan bolts will align the rear cover with the oil pan so when you torque the rear cover bolts the cover and pan will be in line. Yes, you need to use rtv at the 2 corners. As far as the rear main seal, just make sure when you install your rear cover that the seal lip doesn't fold back. The fel-pro plastic sleeve would definetly help out. I would do what I could to get one or else your going to have to get the seal lip started up around the crank shaft.