Hello Art,

Yes, I have probably R&Ied over 100 RMS in over 30 years, however most of them were conversions requiring housing replacement on B18s and B20s.

Most of the time a simple cleaning with a clean solvent soaked rag will properly prep the surface. I wrap the rag around a rigid plastic tool normally used for installing window and door seals.

Occasionally I have had to use some 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper to clean the seal surface. I like to use some clean mineral spirits on the sandpaper. I feel the moisture helps trap most of the small amount of debris and with a quick whip with a clean rag the rest of the debris can removed and I've done this with the seal housing still installed.

And if the sealing surface on the rear of the crankshaft is badly damaged, I install a repair sleeve.

My preference for the wider seal is mostly due to the 1 or 2 RMSs that I observed spinning in their housings, but these were the 10 mm seals and were before the 7 mm seals were available. In retrospect, these were probably 1 of the problematic seals as there have been many manufacturers of this seal.

I've seen rear housing bolts come loose and fall out, so it's SOP to check and tighten those bolts when replacing an RMS. And in fact we have taken to using blue Loctite on those bolts when rebuilding engines even though we still use wave washers. I think we should consider R&Iing the bolts to apply Loctite in the future.
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com