Mon Apr 30, 2018 7:24 pm by cornbinder89
Yes, there are tools made to do it, but it is hard to do if you haven't done one before. The pan has to come down, and its a lot easyer with the bell off, and the flywheel out of the way.
My view on doing rope seals in place is this: It will take a major leak down to a minor one if done correctly, but there is really no substitute for doing it with the crank out. The reason is simple, with the crank out, you compress the rope into the block with a wooden dowel, rolling it into the groove, after it is fully compressed you trim the rope flush with the block. When you do it inplace, it is not possible to fully and evenly compress the rope from below the crank, so you must cut the rope long and try and drive in flush to get a tight seal, you always end up with it more compressed at the sides than directly above the crank.
With all the work involved to do it in place, it hardly seams worth the effort. With an inline, I'd pull the engine, flip it on an engine stand and pull the crank, you'll have about the same amount of time in, but get a better job.
I have done them in place, once did a Buick V-8 that would have been hard to get out. If I have the choice, I pull and do it right, its not a job you will like having to do twice!