The Problem

For those not familiar with the front seal design on the Studebaker Champion engine, it is a thick felt ring that has a tendency to seep oil down the front of the oil pan and all that follows. Some leak more than others that I suspect has a lot to do with the oil flow in the timing gear area. The oil in this area is supplied by the oil pressure bypass valve. The valve opens when oil pressure gets to high mainly at the start of a cold engine. There is a hole in the valve plunger that supplies oil when the valve is not open. Oil also enters the area via the front main bearing and the front cam bearing.

A solution was developed for the Studebaker V8 but not the Champion 6 so I thought I would make a stab at it. The Champion solution I came up with is not much different than the one for the V8. Basically one replaces the old felt seal with a modern neoprene lip seal. Because the hub that interfaces with the seal has a spiral groove intended to guide the oil back into the engine would interfere with the new seal one needs to place a Speedie Sleeve over it.

The implementation on the Champion requires a bit more machine work to accommodate the new seal. The inner cover for the felt seal will need to be unsoldered and drilled for machine screws to remount inner cover that will hold the new seal in place. A mounting ring will need to be made to secure the assembly together. I used some square brass stock I had in my stash.

Note that the change can be reversed by replacing the modern neoprene seal with the old felt seal. Only difference is the there are now four screws holding the seal in place that also make it much easier to replace.

Inside of the timing cover showing the soldered in place inner cover with the oil sling setting on top to get an idea of space for the mounting screws

Inner cover unsoldered for the timing cover

The oil slinger, inner cover, and mounting ring.

Marking the mounting ring for the location of the mounting screws

Checking ring fit to the inner cover

Screw holes drilled and tapped for the 8-32 machine screws

I used fiber washers under the mounting screws to seal from oil leakage

I added a neoprene gasket between the seal and the timing cover.

Speedi-Sleeve to be applied to the hub

Modern seal

Speedi-Sleeve instructions

Clean and mark with tape the depth of the sleeve needed

Fill in the spiral grooves with black high temp silicon sealer

Place the sleeve on the shaft

Place the drive tool onto the sleeve

Using a block of wood and a hammer, drive the sleeve down onto the shaft the depth marked with the tape

Check depth. If not down far enough, drive some more.

Peel away the lower part of the sleeve.

Chuck in a lathe and using the opposite side of the cutting bit, smooth the sleeve edge down to the shaft curve.

Clean up with 400 sand paper.

To make sure the seal is positioned correctly I made an alignment tool that fit snugly on the crankshaft and centers the seal. After centering the seal the four mounting screws are then tightened.

To verify that the seal is actually centered one applies grease to the alignment tool and slips it on the crankshaft and removes it to make sure all the grease is pushed away.