I couldn’t push it home, that’s why I knocked it in.
I would like to do it again but don’t have any more seals and the tools are due to be returned to the place I hired them from tomorrow 
Foxy, pm your address I‘ll donate a new seal - it will be in the post today. 
Don’t let an inconvenience like tool hire hold you up, this seal properly done is important to your success. I second with Steve, the seal can be done better than in the pics and costs nothing to redo. I did mine 3x. (see, and still have a spare seal left over)
Martin
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I am in UK MartinScherz
I’m guessing you are in USA. Really appreciate the offer but shipping prices these days are crazy
That was probably typed too quickly…
I meant would cost you a fortune to send even something weighing almost zero from USA to UK.
I’m contacting the hire-company today regarding returning the tools. Will ask them about an extension to the hire-period and I see someone on Ebay selling the seals for £10 and auction ends in 2 days. It might work out 
Hi Foxy…Martin is in Germany…he was in the UK at the weekend…basically for the cost and extending the hire of the tool or getting it again its worth redoing your seal…its a lot of work later if it pees out oil…Steve…also in UK ps look at SNGB £7 the pair SNG Barratt UK | Keeping your Jaguar on the road
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Yes, Germany. I’m told by my Parts dealer part is identical to the 12 cylinder engine. Offer still stands 
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Can’t argue with £7/pair, buy 2 sets, then you’re not worried about making a mistake.
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That’s good to know MGJAG. I was thinking needed to buy another full bottom-end set.
Anyway am just home from work and see an email from the hire place.
I’ll see what they have to say…
Ok
So I contacted the Jaguar specialist whom I hired the tools from, to get a return-code for the parcel, but also to ask if they needed it back right now.
They replied as follows
Hi Graham,
There is someone waiting for it, but we need to get you sorted first.
A few things to consider-
- What colour is the seal? (should be grey, graphite)
- If white, did you need to cut it? (I would do it again.)
- Was the seal housing on the block? (must be on the block, cannot in loose in the vice)
- Did you use oil on it (big no no)
- Did you work it in gentle and leave overnight (it takes some time, and gives you arm ache)
I will show ken the photos, and see what he says.
Regards,
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Ok so I answered all the above and the owner basically replied saying
‘what? you are using the asbestos ones!? we don’t use any anymore but better with the grey’
Today the secretary said
‘just do it again and the other person will wait on the tool’
So I’m ordering new ones ASAP
Nothing wrong with asbestos… but with getting hung up on such details 
I couldn’t care less about asbestos but a lot of people would disagree. Where i live it’s illegal to even clean some asbestos roofing, many salvage type TV shows buy (unknowingly) items with asbestos components and then have to pay to get rid of them.
Anyway I have ordered 2 new seals (grey type shown in ads) and hopefully they will arrive soon so I can get them fitted and send the tools back
Ok so the job is done again, using genuine Jaguar seals, and the tools were (finally!) sent back this morning 
I will say that the genuine seals are much easier to fit and don’t distort and spread out like the white ones included in many aftermarket gasket-sets.
I will also say that this time I did it ‘properly’ by continuously twisting the tool side to side whilst pushing forwards and it felt like it would never break thru. It took about an hour and requires a lot of strength.
I really can’t believe they were all done like this on the production line. It just isn’t feasible that a line of men were wrestling with hand-tools all day long to get one part of the engine on its way
genuine Jaguar seal c19654/EBC1705
seal pushed into groove quite easily without any distortion
it takes a lot of time and force to get the sizing-tool home
job done
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Great job Foxy…well worth the extra time and effort…Steve
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This thread just once again makes me wonder how I got by, all those years, rebuilding all those rope-sealed engines, with no special tools but the crankshaft, a hammer, and a large round socket…
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Hi Paul…I think this is Foxys first time. …im assuming you saw a few rear seals done and had some experiance befor doing your first…Steve
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My comment was not meant as a criticism about foxy’s work at all: of course we all had learning experiences. My point is, I didn’t even know there was a special tool until 20 years after I quit working on engines with rope seals. I learned from an old school mechanic–my father–to do it with the crankshaft a socket and a soft hammer.
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And I got told how to do it by you and have no problems with my rope seal. First time! We have the tool but I don’t really like it. A matter of preference? If it’s available, good, but if not and money is tight it’s not wrong to use the crankshaft.
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So I’m quickly popping it to give a more detailed description of what was done as I was rushing to post last time. Thanks for the input above (which I have yet to read properly).
Here’s a fuller description (cut and pasted from another forum I’m on)
’ Ok so a bit of a balls-up with the rope-seals…
Due to being a weirdo I felt sorry for a single one I saw on Ebay and then found one at a good price on the normal web. I always prefer Ebay as the P&P is visible but when you go onto a normal dealer for one tiny part they (understandably) have sort of ‘standard’ charges for shipping that aren’t always appropriate for the size of the part.
So I had two en route from different sellers and thought might actually be ok in case one took ages to deliver.
So the next day I get an email from the Ebay ppl saying ‘sorry, out of stock and can’t give date for more’ 
So am thinking ‘jfw! the other one will prob takes weeks to arrive cos it’s not Ebay and the tool has to go back in a day or two!!’
Next day a seal arrives so I email Ebay ppl (wh have already refunded me) to say the thing arrived and need to pay you. They reply to explain otherwise. Basically I bought the 2 off same ppl, via different routes, when they only ever had 1 
By this time it was Thursday and I got the tools on a Thursday 2 weeks prior so I had to do something that night with the one seal I had as there definitely wasn’t another coming.
So after a hard day’s work I forced myself back out at night to the barn with the seal and realised the tools were back at flat boxed-up ready to return to hirer. I tried to stay calm and worked on putting the seal into the bearing-cap. The logic here was that it sits under the other seal and is more likely to leak down low.
I was amazed at how much easier the grey seal went into its groove than the white ones had. I just rolled it flatter with a socket extension (used like a rolling-pin) the used same to knead it into the groove and it seemed to be much firmer and hold its shape.
Perhaps buoyed by this small ‘success’ I flew back home for the tools and back down again (16 miles so far) to finish the job off.
If you remember last time I batted the tool into the seals (with cap bolted to block) then did a bit of twisting to polish it but was told this was not the right way to do it.
Sooo, this time, I figured it would be quite easy to do it properly as I was only really fighting with one seal as one was already done (badly?). So I bolted the cap back on and then started trying to push/rock the tool through the seals, with some graphite paste as a lube.
All I can say is that it was very very hard to do. It took hundreds of twist and a lot of forward force to get the taper past the seals onto the large OD of the tool. I’d say nearly an hour. I was listening to Hearts getting beat by Zurich on the Radio and decided if it wasn’t thru by full time the wooden block was coming back out.
I got it thru just before the end of the game.
Anyway I’m quite pleased with the job. The new seal seems to be supplied the correct length so I didn’t need to cut the ends and they may have actually filled some of the mess in the groove for the seal in the block.
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