Front Oil Seal Differences?

[kcbhiw]

Is there a possibility that there are any differences between front oil seals for short nose [crank] Miatas? For the life of me, I cannot get the seal in without destroying it. I'm getting a bit frustrated. The engine and oil pump are that of a '90 while the crank is from a '91. I never had this problem with my other '90 Miata, or any other that I've replaced for that matter. I've made sure to pre-lube both the oil pump mating surface and the crankshaft "journal". Please, any suggestions are welcome.

[jflo]

they shouldn't be very different since the engines are the same. they didn't change the design of the crank until '94 right ?

[Luv2RedLine]

Crank was changed in 91.5. The 1.8 was introduced in 94.

[jwatts]

This link will tell you every difference between the 90-91 and 91.5-93. But to answer your question, yes there are many significant differences.

http://www.miata.net/garage/crankshaft.html

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

He's right. Ny book by Mr. Keith Tanner says the seals are diff too.

[Keith@FP]

Yeah, I agree with that book :)

If you've got a short-nose crank from an early 1991 motor, you should use the seal for the short-nose crank. There's only one. If it won't fit, you've got the wrong seal.

Keith

[kcbhiw]

I finally got the seal in a while ago. I was just making sure that there weren't any slight differences between the short nose crank seals. The fit was unusually tight. A bit of rubber was still sheered off during installation, but I beleive it'll make a good seal. If not, I'll live with it.