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496 hemi is finally alive!

One common rear main seal leak cause is the retainer hitting on the #5 main stud or nut. I’ve been using the one piece seals with great success. I’ve also used ultra gray RTV in place of the side seals.
 
One common rear main seal leak cause is the retainer hitting on the #5 main stud or nut. I’ve been using the one piece seals with great success. I’ve also used ultra gray RTV in place of the side seals.

Yup I did clearance the retainer for the stud nuts and used ultra grey in place of side seals. Also put clearance holes in the windage tray to clear the studs. I will need to check alignment of the retainer and replace the seal I did try to make sure it wouldn’t leak but was obviously unsuccessful. I do wonder if the one piece seal
would be doable with the crank installed not sure if I could sneak it around the crank or not.
 
Yup I did clearance the retainer for the stud nuts and used ultra grey in place of side seals. Also put clearance holes in the windage tray to clear the studs. I will need to check alignment of the retainer and replace the seal I did try to make sure it wouldn’t leak but was obviously unsuccessful. I do wonder if the one piece seal
would be doable with the crank installed not sure if I could sneak it around the crank or not.
I would think the crank will have to come out for a one piece seal install. Those seals aren’t that flexible. Any mismatch between the pan rail height and the seal retainer height? Sometimes that can seem like a main seal leak.
 
Yup I did clearance the retainer for the stud nuts and used ultra grey in place of side seals. Also put clearance holes in the windage tray to clear the studs. I will need to check alignment of the retainer and replace the seal I did try to make sure it wouldn’t leak but was obviously unsuccessful. I do wonder if the one piece seal
would be doable with the crank installed not sure if I could sneak it around the crank or not.

I went thru the same thing , on my 505 , finally discovered the factory main seal cap wasnt machined on center, would pull to one side if installed w/o the side seals , indy makes a killer one I think .
 
Got this thing reassembled and almost ready to go back on the run stand. Will see if the rear main seal repair worked hope it did. waiting on the clutch to arrive and i dialed in the bell this morning. Used some really nice offset dowels from McRobb performance
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Got the clutch and bell housing installed and it’s back on the run stand for round #2.
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Very fancy! Looking forward to seeing/hearing that rascal come to life, sir!
 
I’ve fired it up a few times on the second go around on the the run stand. I have been playing with the timing some and right now
I have it idling at around 1000 rpm and the timing is at 18 degrees initial any lower and it doesn’t want to run. I could maybe get it lower but i don’t want to open the throttle blades too much at idle. It has 22” of vacuum at idle and fairly steady so what say you hemi gurus is 18 degrees initial too high? It lights off instantly and Ray (@HALIFAXHOPS) set my curve to be all in at 32 degrees at 2500 i’ll post a pic of the cam card as well
 
I’ve fired it up a few times on the second go around on the the run stand. I have been playing with the timing some and right now
I have it idling at around 1000 rpm and the timing is at 18 degrees initial any lower and it doesn’t want to run. I could maybe get it lower but i don’t want to open the throttle blades too much at idle. It has 22” of vacuum at idle and fairly steady so what say you hemi gurus is 18 degrees initial too high? It lights off instantly and Ray (@HALIFAXHOPS) set my curve to be all in at 32 degrees at 2500 i’ll post a pic of the cam card as well
Around 2500 is when a Hemi comes alive. All of mine are at 36-38 all in around 2500-2800.
 
I do have vacuum advance but have it disconnected right now
Are you going to run it to manifold vacuum at idle? If so, you could probably get away with less initial. If you run it to ported and there’s no vacuum advance at idle your probably done there since any more could cause start issues. It’ll want timing at idle and part throttle cruise and should drop back to 36 or so when you hammer it
 
Thanks Hemirunner,
I had planned to connect to timed vacuum
i’m ok with sticking with 18 initial until i get it in the car and drive it to see how it performs there. I don’t have a problem connecting it to manifold vacuum if the need arises. I think i will leave it where it is and tune the carbs and go from there does that sound like a good game plan?
 
Thanks Hemirunner,
I had planned to connect to timed vacuum
i’m ok with sticking with 18 initial until i get it in the car and drive it to see how it performs there. I don’t have a problem connecting it to manifold vacuum if the need arises. I think i will leave it where it is and tune the carbs and go from there does that sound like a good game plan?
Sounds good
 
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