Okay so I am a bit of worry-wort...

I just finished up swapping out the rear main seal on my 327. The seal came out and went in like cake. My question is:

What should I have torqued the rear main cap bolts down to?

I torqued them down to 87-90 ft/lbs and then torqued the oil pump down to 69ft/lbs.

I sealed everything up (oil pan and associated gaskets etc...) filled the motor up with oil and fired it up... Started first try and didn't leak a drop(succesful seal install!) I let it idle for about 5-7mins before "juicing it a couple times"; it accelerated and sounded great EXCEPT that when it deccelerated (reved down) I thought I heard a noise like a quiet knock or something - It may have been a figment of my imagination because I have NEVER replaced a rear seal before and I tend to worry alot, especially about new things I try because I want things to be PERFECT!

Since I torqued those 2 main cap bolts down to 87-90ft/lbs and torqued the oil pump down to 69ft/lbs thats all I can do right? I should be good to go???

I just want to make sure if I am hearing a noise it was probably doing it before I replaced the seal and isn't a result of me fudging something up. (Maybe I just wasn't listening as hard before as I was after I replaced the seal and never noticed that noise before???)

What do you all think? Does it sound like I did it right???

Thanks for any advice/insight...

You have the torques pretty close, the main cap should have 80# and the oil pump bolt was 65#, so no harm done. I would be more concerned about what you are hearing now. the noise on the down rev could be any number of things, so don't concern yourself. ussally a down rev noise is wrist pins or slow lifter returns(makes things sound gravelly). the up rev noises and under load noises are the ones to watch for. they are the precursers of bad news.

By the way sounds like you did a good job on the oil seal.

My concern here would be how you primed the oil pump? Did you pack it with vasoline or other substance to make sure it drew the oil into it and not cavitate.

I saw that they advertised 80# for torque, but the haynes manual said 90#? I was in the mindset that MORE IS BETTER but I realize now that you don't want too much torque on that rear main cap... I think 90# should be okay - the bolts didn't snap while it was running for 10-15 minutes last night - so all is good for now...

BUT:

I DID NOT PACK ANY GREASE - I didn't even know you had to prime the oil pump till I did a search on the net for the torque specs and found that he said you have to prime the pump...

What I did was just poured about 1/2 quart of oil in the pump and I turned the shaft backwards tilli t came out the screen, then I filled about 1/3 of the oil pan, stuck the screen side (of oil pump) in the pan and twisted the pump shaft until it started to squirt out oil at the top, then I just installed it filled the pan with oil and started it up?

Is there a chance something is up with my oil pump?

Oil pressure guage was on the fritz before the swap so I don't really have any way to check to see if it is lubricating?

What does cavitate mean???


Oh and thanks all for dismissing my worries!

i would prolly get an aftermarket oil pressure guage on there soon, Obviouisly a mechanical one.. You can pick up a dual Water temp and oil pressure guage set, At the parts store for around 40 bucks.... Pretty important guage to have

I wouldn't be to worried, the pump got primed how ever you did it. the idea is to not put them in totally dry(seen it done) the pump can be turned into a boiling mass of metal. they turn blue and then snap the oil pump drive shaft.

OUCH!

So do you think I am okay??? It turns on idles great and revs strong - and I don't hear any audible noises on the decelleration anymore - I think I was just uptight last night because I had JUST finished retorquing everything and wasn't sure of myself and my imagination had gotten the best of me!!!

So you think my oil pump is okay though right? I did put 6quarts of oil back in BEFORE I STARTED THE MOTOR (I even waited for about 1/2-1hr before starting to ASSURE MYSELF that oil got down into the pan and was saturating the pump...

My Oil pressure guage is broken, I get a new Stewart Warner sending unit tomarrow (tues)... But in the meantime I am a little worried about not having primed my oil pump the right way???

Sounds like your OK. I didn't know that you filled pump with oil. I was just responding to your newly found said knock?

I get my guages tomarrow so that should put all my worries to rest!!!

THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE ETC...