I've got a new, but many years old, billet rear main seal holder kit from Indy Cylinder Heads. This is the original style that uses o-ring material down the sides of the holder, instead of the "stick" inserts. Has their particular version of this design proved to work OK?

I'm asking because I recently picked up another billet rear main seal holder kit (made by a different company, but also uses o-ring material for the side seals) and compared the two parts. I was a little surprised to see this new holder looks like it probably retains the seal more securely compared to the older ICH part.

Thanks.

The stock ones never leak if installed properly which includes filling the back side gaps solid w/silicone so I would HOPE that new high-tech piece would do it`s job...........

Ya'd think so, but there was another thread on here not that long ago where somebody posted having problems w/ the ICH, but not the other brand. Left me a bit confused, to be honest...

I had an ICH one that gave me fits. it ended up in the garbage can and i used a stock retainer. no leaks after that.

you have a PM

FWIW, I did a close inspection of an OEM seal holder, an MRE billet seal holder and an old-style ICH billet seal holder and did notice some machining differences that might be why the ICH part has leakage issues.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took are still on the digi-cam 'cuz we haven't installed a new photo download software on our PC at home since my wife changed the OS.

More importantly, I installed the MRE holder when I was laying the crank in the 452's block and put the ICH piece back in the box on the parts shelf. I have no faith in the ICH part at this point...

The MRE part still required some clearancing due to rubbing up against the #5 main cap's studs/nuts when test-fitting it. I didn't want to take any chance that the seal holder wouldn't fit flush against the block.