VH-65 Seal Repair

After rebuilding the VH-65 and mounting it, I kept my eye on the oil level. After a few weeks it fell below the sight glass and I knew I had a leak. I had really fought with the large seal in front and immediately came to the conclusion I had messed it up. Careful observation seemed to show that it was leaking as there was evidence on the front of the rotary.

It's kinda hard to see, but there is some faint staining right below the seal area as shown here. 

First up - remove the old seal. Easy - just drill a small hole in the seal and use a slide puller!
 
​My problem the first time was I had no way to evenly pull in the seal. I had tried to gently hammer it in, but I knew at the time I had deformed it. I needed a tool. 


When I was scrounging around my local surplus yard, I found a scrap ring of 6.5" ID aluminum. Perfect. For $10 it was mine. All it needed was to a bit of machining to open up the ID a bit and face it. ​I used the T slots in the face and a couple of scrap plates to rig up a way to pull it down. I carefully tightened each nut so as to install the seal square and even. It went in pretty easy. 

Ring sized to fit

Ring and seal

Mounting detail

Ready to install

Installed!

Filled with oil

I topped it up with oil and I'll keep any eye on it for the next few weeks a see what happens.

​When I had purchased the rotary, the Fadal logo plate was missing. One happened to come up on eBay, so I decided - what the hell.