Hi gang,
Again with the dumb question of the day. I've been reading through the installation instructions for the Vair to VW conversion, and the papers say to coat the mainshaft seal that's on the adapter plate with "high temperature cup grease". What the heck is that? Lubriplate? Bearing grease?

Rick

I figured the reason for the instruction was to provide some protection to the seal until oil got to it on initial engine start. I used assembly lubricant which, unlike Lubriplate, is oil soluble.

10K miles later, no problems with the oil seal.

Rob

I checked the Corvair Center (http://corvaircenter.com) forum. Grease sounds like the way to go:
http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,308948,309940#msg-309940

cup grease is specific grease that was meant to go into the cup (of a grease cup) and it gets screwed into the "funnel" that directs the grease to the point that lubrication is needed at. The cup is sized so that when it's filled and screwed on, it is always a measured amount of grease that gets forced to the lubrication point.

Cup grease is pretty heavy stuff, so that it didn't squeeze out of the threads as you screwed the cup on. It is thicker than Lubriplate. It isn't even made anymore that I'm aware of. You just don't see grease cups that often any more.

I really don't think cup grease was oil soluble, but I'm no expert on the stuff. Unfortunately I've used up the little bit I had or I could have tested that theory out.

Since you can't even find the stuff any more, I would say try to use the thickest oil soluble grease you can get your hands on. (I like Rob's idea of oil soluble so it won't clump up and clog any oil passages or anything like that.)

Jay

Ah...gotcha. You can see just how little experience I have with this kind of stuff. Thanks for the info, guys - I'll be off to the FLAPS when I get to the point of fitting everything up. Any specific recommendations on assembly lube?

A grease cup was something my grandfather taught me about and I never forgot about it. Otherwise I wouldn't know a thing about it myself, because you sure don't see many around any more. I did a little searching and came up with two pictures of what a grease cup is... Not what you were asking, I know, but figure its somewhat relavant.

Jay

Assembly lube - my preference for the few engines I've assembled is a product that used to be called Michigan Bearing Guard.  It was provided to me years ago by a machine ship doing some crank and block work for me.  Thinking of getting some more, I found it is now called Clevite 77 Bearing Guard - you can google and read all about it.

It has the consistency of a sort of oily jelly.  The nice thing is it doesn't "drain off" the parts after installation - otherwise I'd just use a good oil to assemble if you're planning on starting it up within a day or 2 after assembly.  Usually takes me a lot longer to get something installed and running after I put it together so I like using the bearing guard lube.
This is for bearings, seals, gears, etc - but not the rings/cylinders.  For that I just use plain oil although some builders recommend something lighter like WD40 to speed break-in.  A nice 10W oil would probably be a safer bet.

Cam/lifter lube?  That's a whole other subject!  Probably whatever the cam manufacturer recommends for this.

Jeff

I'll see if I can find that locally, Jeff. Oh yes... it takes me next to forever to get around actually working on the next step in a project, so I can relate. I'm not worrying about cam lube; I'm not tearing the engine that far down. It seems to be in pretty decent, if really dirty, shape, so I'm concentrating on getting the carb setup working, replacing the tins that have rusted away and hunting down the appropriate pieces for the conversion. Almost there...