I find it hard to be believe the fiber bits would cause a problem
unless they plugged up a oil passage. It's often impossible to get the
pipe off without breaking a stud even with a torch so I'm no help there.
You should replace the front seal with a modern neoprene style, the rear
seal and pan gasket is a bitch to get right even with the engine on a
stand, but it is possible in the car.  Nothing you could do with a oil
change to cause the problem.

John,

Chances are it isn't your rear main seal that's leaking, it usually the
pan gasket, that big piece of cork at the rear wasn't one of Studebakers
best piece of engineering, while the seal hardly ever leaks.

When you replace the pan gasket you might try using a neoprene seal that
Dwain talked about a while back, that piece of cork is a PAIN,
especially if the engine is in the car.  On some of those gasket sets
the piece of cork is also too long and needs to be trimmed.

<http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.studebaker/browse_thread/thread/6c95084
ae07f9055/cb97d74b602f9016?q=Oil+pan+gasket&rnum=10&hl=en#cb97d74b602f9016>

Good luck!

Jeff DeWitt

Nutcracker for the exhaust nuts.

Additionally, to drop the pan, you must partially disassemble the
steering.  Remove the pinchbolt/nut on the bellcrank. Remove the four
bolts that secure the bellcrank pin housing so that it can drop out,
then push the bell crank and tie rods out of the way.  Remove the starter.

Drop the pan.  If there is no evidence of the crankshaft being damp
(from oil) on the back side of the rear bearing cap, leave it alone.

Clean out the pan, install a new front seal, (Neoprene if you have the
time), and reassemble the whole shabang and press on...

JT

There is no easy way of doing this and doing it correctly.  While your this
far down, you really need to clean the pan throughly.  Putting solvent in
the thing isn't going to accomplish anything, except to loosen the
grunge/slug.  The worst thing you want.  You really need to take the engine
out, put it on a stand, take the pan off, take the valley cover off, take
the oil pump screen off, knock the water jacket plugs out.

With all of this done, you need to clean the water jackets out, flush them
(ie, block) and put new plugs in.  Next you need to clean the slug out of
the valley (don't dump solvent in it, or you'll likely contaminate the
engine.  Then soak the oil pickup screen in solvent to clean it out and
remove any hardened slug that may have accumulated on the screen, or in the
tube (this crap usually causes restriction and thus low oil pressure).  You
will need to do the same thing to the oil pressure relief valve.  When you
take it out pay particular attention to the way it was in there.  It has a
large opening and a small one.  Get the piston turned  around and you lose
oil.  Clean the oil pan out throughly.

At this point, it is a good idea to check the rear main, just to make
certain that the leak you had was indeed the upper cork rear pan gasket.
The upper pan gasket is usually the culprit, but you never know and it
really pays to make certain. Replace all the gaskets and especially the
front felt seal.

I strongly recommend that you install one of the aluminum timing gears, so
as to avoid this operation a second time.

Trust me, you don't want to half a.s this job.  If you do, it will bite you
in the a.s and cost a bunch more time and money to correct the bigger
problem you'll have.

Bo