Last week my new throwout bearing arrived. This was just the bearing, hub not included. I try to purchase top quality part, Timken, made in USA #1625. The outer steel shell had a large burr at the lip where it is rolled on to the front race. Tried to turn the bearing with my hands and at first it rotated with a gritty feeling then became impossible to rotate any further.                             Today I received a new oil pan gasket "Best" brand #24026E with not a single bolt hole punched out.  WTH?    Sorry fellas, I just needed to let off some steam.................

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Evidently filling in the pan rail groves didn't help much either.  I have been kicking around the idea of purchasing the rigid piece that surrounds the rear of the pan  or fabricating my own. Have you folks tried this? The provider of this rigid clamping aid has advertised on this site in the past. Did it help? Maybe if one was made to surround the entire pan would be the asswer  Modern pan rails are flat and make use of a steel reinforced silicone gasket with inserts in the bolt holes to limit the amount of crush.  Unfortunately, that technology, or any part of it, has not spilled over to our engines yet.  

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try my kit, plate is for the rear of the pan, gasket is thicker than best by double.kit is 100 us including frt to us. have 2 left and do not intend to make more cliff at ct1940@shaw.ca

Ah-ha!  Thanks for the heads up and memory jogger.  I totally forgot about the Y-block silicone gasket as life got in the way of things with me this summer. I'll try contacting the folks at Real Gasket TN next week to find out if they are still willing to produce a silicone gasket for our engines. 

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Received word today a silicone gasket prototype has been produced. They need an evaluation as to form, fit etc. before production.  Ted, would you have time to evaluate this gasket? I could send it to you after the Thanksgiving holiday.  Your valuable input would be very much appreciated. Thanks, JEFF........



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If all I need to do is examine the gasket for a non-installed evaluation, I can do that.  That’s the easy part.  Actually testing the fit of that gasket on an engine and then running that engine in a variety of conditions would be the more difficult part.  While I can do that on the dyno mule, it would take some time to determine if and when a failure point occurs.  The dyno mule is scheduled to go back on the dyno late this year for some testing of parts in early January.  That would be an opportune time to also run that gasket on the 312 dyno mule.
 
A more suitable test would be for someone to actually put it on their daily driver Y for a period of time.  That daily driver ideally needs to be one that does not have any oil leaks before installing the gasket just to ensure that any leaks that show up during the test were not because of a pre-existing problem.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks Ted for your offer and time. I agree a wet run on the dyno would be a better test than a visual and would be worth the wait.  Winter is around the corner in Michigan so by the time I can install it on my truck I'm afraid there won't be much apportunity to put on miles.  I have confidence this Si gasket should be a good thing....

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Ted, I received the prototype silicone gasket and sent it USPS to your shop Friday Dec. 1st so shoud arrive one day this week. The gasket does look very good, thanks again, JEFF..........

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