1977 308 GTB USA Model Main Seal.

Good Evening, am working on replacement of my clutch as well as flywheel resurfacing, when I removed the flywheel I was surprised to see the main seal actually behind the crank flange (I thought it was supposed to be flush on the outside lip of the crank flange - if you look closely at the attached pic my seal is inverted (can see the spring of the seal exposed facing you BEHIND the crank flange), is this normal? I did not see any appreciable oil leak so it must be functioning in some manner? Wanted to ask if others have seen this main seal installed in this fashion? Thanks in advance.
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Also, wanted to ask what the torque is of the nuts surrounding the crankshaft flange in the picture and assume they are red loctited?

 

Wanted to re-post to see if anyone's main seal is installed similar to mine in the photo - there is a seal behind the crank flange (not on the front outer rim of the flange as you would expect), but trying to determine if that is correct? Should I just leave the seal intact, given there does not seem to be any measurable oil leak? Thanks in advance -

 

Thanks, looks like your seal is on the outside, which is what I was suspecting mine should be installed as also - as you look closely at my photo, the seal is actually behind the flange not on the top front, so apparently someone installed it incorrectly when they were in there last. Your photo confirms mine is incorrectly installed. Regarding ignition sensors I do not see any, my 77 308 apparently does not have these.

 

Thanks, was there a change between the early 308's and the later ones whereby on my 77 the seal is behind the flange with inner spring facing towards you (not towards the engine/oil), and on later models they improved the design so the seal is on the exterior/top of the crank flange so it is easily replaceable?

 

I ordered (and received) from Ricambi P/N 200323 main seal (says this superseded original P/N 106244), but I do not see how this installs flush with the crankshaft flywheel mounting flange as it protrudes out approx. 1/8 inch, which I would suspect would not be proper given the flywheel has to mount to this flange with its 8 bolts - in looking at my picture above vs. cls' picture his has the seal covering the outer flange, in looking at my picture you can see NO seal (it is BEHIND the crank flange) - I am thoroughly confused, given this discrepancy and the fact the part I ordered does not appear to fit as does cls' - any help/clarification greatly appreciated - I do not want to just ignore and button everything up only to have a leak! Thanks in advance -

 

Here is a pic to describe what I am asking above - the new seal is installed - it sticks up too high, this can't install the flywheel properly - is there a part number of a seal which sits flush that I could procure?
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With the new seal installed - View attachment 834650

 

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Joe, thanks - your pic is the way mine looks now after flywheel removal - the part from AW Italian Auto unfortunately looks just like the one I purchased and am trying to install from Ricambi - I guess my question is how did you install the main seal as it appears to be installed behind the crank flange?

 

Joe - thanks - have Dave of AW Italian parts checking the dimensions of the main seal they carry for 308's - await callback. If I understand correctly from looking at your picture you slid the new seal just over the lip of the crankshaft flange then pushed it back towards the engine (right rear of car) until it was just seated behind the flange lip? I see yours looks like it is orange colored?

 

Joe - thanks - I can see my old seal (the seal spring is actually facing me) behind the flange - not sure if this is the correct installation/perhaps previous owner did clutch work and installed a new seal but incorrectly? Should I just take a pick/hook to pull to extract it? They (Ferrari) definitely made changes to this seal through the 308 model series as later ones have the seal lips on the outside of the diameter of the flange but also flush with the cover....

 

Joe - thanks will do....

 

Still working this project - having a heck of a time removing the old main seal, my seal has a metal cover and am trying to drill through it so I can feed a small machine screw into the hole so I can put some vise-grips on the head of the screw and pull outwards to remove the seal - is this the proper extraction method? Is there a main seal extraction tool which is used for this purpose? The metal is thicker than I anticipated so I have not broken through yet. I am hoping I do not need to remove the flywheel cover plate which has multiple screws and gaskets behind it which I prefer not to disturb to pull it out towards me so I can access the main seal - attached pic is where I am drilling (bottom, holding the drill bit in my hand to indication drilling location) - thanks in advance for any advise from those who have been there/done that.....
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Joe, you are correct, initially I did not realize the seal cover was metal and thought it was part of the flywheel spacer cover (thus not realizing it was the seal itself), and I was simply placing the new seal from Ricambi over the old for a fit check (and to be honest I was confused as heck thinking the seal somehow had to be installed from the BACK side of the crankshaft flange - never having done/seen this before it was a brain fade on my part!