As many of you may have seen, I'm in the process of replacing some seals in the front cover of my 94Z. A few of the write ups ive seen have shown come conflicting pictures and I need information specific to my 94. Are there O rings on the optispark drive? I dont see any, but that could be why it's leaking so much? I want to replace everything for the optispark and water pump so as far as I know I need just the front cover seal for the optispark and front cover seal, 2 gaskets and 2 O rings for the water pump. Am I missing anything? It might have been a good idea to figure this out before I started, but I was too excited to get rid of my oil leaks (hopefully). I want to make sure I get it right the first time. Also, if there are any recommended brands for the gaskets or special instructions that would help as well. I have heard some of them have to be installed dry. Thanks!

 

only 95 and up fbodies use the o-ring on the opti. yours is splined and only need to worry about that goofy seal that the drive itself goes through on the timing cover. what do you mean by o-rings on the water pump? it just uses the two paper gaskets between it and the block.

 

Is the opti seal removed the same way the water pump seal is? I dont think it has the same notch to get it out, but do I just clean it up and pull it out?

Here is what I was referencing for the O rings on the water pump
http://shbox.com/ci/water_pump.jpg
It's for a 95, not sure if it's the same for me. They have two O rings that seal the metal coupler.

 

The O rings for the water pump are on the shafts where they connect with the coupler not between the pump and the block and my 93 has them too. One where the coupler and the shaft coming out of the water pump connect and the other where the coupler and the water pump shaft coming out of the timing cover connect. The only purpose I can see that they serve is to keep the coupler snugly attatched and maybe quite any noise from the coupler vibrating on the splined shafts. They do not seal any fluid but at least on mine if I take them off and put the coupler on the shaft it slides loosley on and off the shaft and has the very slightest amount of play. The Optispark on the other hand has two O rings on the shaft where it goes into the camshaft and they do actually seem to seal oil off from between the hole in the end of the shaft and a hole in the side of the shaft closer to the opti body. The O rings are the same size from the Opti shaft and the water pump shaft. If you buy the Fel-Pro timing cover seal and gasket set it comes with the three seals (water pump shaft seal, Opti shaft seal and front main crankshaft hub seal), one paper gasket for timing cover to block, two paper gaskets for water pump to block and two rubber O rings for the Optispark shaft. I think they only have the O rings for the Opti as they are the only two that actually are needed to seal anything.

As far as what you have to do to replace the seals, if you haven't seen anything about installing the waterpump shaft seal already then you will need to be very careful when installing it. It is much easier to install it using a tool to help keep the seal from folding up under itself or tearing and leaking oil. Most people use either a socket or pen cap or part of a pen body to help install the water pump shaft seal. For the socket method I believe the best socket to use is a 1/4" drive deepwell 1/2" socket. You apply a thin layer of oil on the seals inner and outer lips and put it onto the socket making sure the inner seal lip is curved inward and facing the end you would put on a bolt and the outer is curved out and facing the end you would put on the socket wrench.



Then put the socket end (the part you would put on a bolt) over the splined part of the water pump shaft and slide the seal into place being very careful not to damage the inner seal lip or roll it under itself. Even with the socket this can still be hard to do.



I took these photos and included them here to make it easier to understand the socket method but I didn't fully install the seal yet. The final step if you can get it over the water pump shaft without damaging it would be to tap the seal in using a 1/2" drive 15/16" socket until it is fully seated.

Personally I find that the socket method is harder than using the pen body tool method and one fairly detailed thread showing a tool that a guy made with part of a pen is:

https://www.impalasuperstore.com/nai...TOPIC_ID=30984

another thread that shows a tool someone made:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/non-lsx-p...eal-tools.html

Hope that helps.

 

Sorry if my reply sounds redundant, I was making my reply and taking the photos apparently while you posted the reply with the link showing the O rings on the water pump shaft.

 

Excellent! Thats exactly what I was looking for. I just wanted to make sure that I was replacing everything that i could while I was in there. No sense in putting in old seals or forgetting some. I like the idea of the socket as well. I used that same website to guide me through so far. I am curious tho, it looks very different behind his optispark than it does with mine. Thats why I was asking for a little clarification. His looks much easier to replace than mine does. It almost looks like my seal is pressed in from the back of the timing cover. I guess if I buy that kit, I might as well remove the front cover and do the crank seal and timing cover gasket as well, it doesnt really look like either are leaking tho. Maybe I should pick up a timing chain? I wasnt planning on doing it, and I only have 67k on the clock so it's probably fine.

No worries about redundancies, I'll probably still mess it up haha

 

Actually, if I'm going to be removing the timing cover I read somewhere that you can buy the cover with the seals already installed for like $80? Anyone else heard of this? It would take a little longer to remove the hub and cover, but I think in the long run I would save time by having the seals pre-installed. Not to mention not having to worry about them leaking anymore and I would have a shiny new part on the front of my engine

 

I don't know about purchasing the cover with the seals already installed, HOWEVER, even if you can, there's still one important caution....You still have to get the seal over the water pump drive splines without damaging the seal lips. This is VERY important!