Can anyone provide me the name and telephone # of a person or outfit that can replace the rear main seal in my '69 383 while still in the car. Someone within 250 miles of St.Louis.

Watch Nicks garage about the 383 that wouldn't stop leaking first.

Back in the old days when rope seals were available you could find shops that would do that work. These days I don't think you'll find many places that are willing to tackle that job. It is a painful process and the odds of success are low. If you pay shop rate you could easily have $500 in the job only to find out that it leaks just as bad as before they changed it.

Never heard of this program. Is it a TV program, and does it tell of someone or some place I can take the car for repairs?

Andy: That's what I'm experiencing. I've got a new rope seal from 440 Source. I tried installing a neoprene bottom half along with a lot of RTV as demonstrated on MOPAR Joe's web sight. It leaks worse than before.

Its a youtube channel, Here is his latest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvKZtRYi3Q

had a customer years ago that had what he thought was a rear main leak on a 340. After several pan gaskets, rear main seals and a new oil pan he brought it to us. My first question was are you sure all the block plugs are tight. Swore they were. OK, we did the rear main and pan gasket again. No change.
Fortunately it was a stick so we dropped the inspection cover and brake cleaned the 💩 out of it. Fired the motor up let it run a few minutes and the leak appeared. Using a small wadded up paper towel on the end of flexible fingers i was able to sneak it up in the bell housing while avoiding the rear main area. When removed fresh oil was on the towel.
Pulled the trans & flywheel and found the right galley plug finger tight. 😳. it hasn't leaked a drop since in 15 years. he left a spare pan gasket and i had a buddy make a sign that "Said think outside the pan John"
LOL

Thanks tman: I read all the responses and watched the video and learned a lot from it.

There used to be a tool that looked like a steel mesh fishnet stocking that slipped over the end of the rope seal and held it.
You would feed the other end over the crank and pull the rope seal in place without removing the crank.

Here is a picture.

May not help but it may be a useful tool if you want to do it yourself.

I have seen similar tools for running wiring in conduits.

Chinese finger lock.... lol

That is a great idea to pull the seal around.

I think around here that was called a “sneaky Pete”. I have one around my garage somewhere.

Another version, Still available from Lisle LINKY

I would not , and haven't for years on 100+ Mopar V8 motor builds with no leaks, use one of the old hard to seal up rope seals
I like and use the new brown color Viton seals and then when done use a good, Permatex, brand of grey adhesive silicone to seal the sides and bottom edges of the seal holder to the block joints. I use a thin putty knife with the silicone on it, use as much as needed several times to make sure the sides edges to the block are full and flat and then do the bottom edges to the block . Take your time and let it sit 24 hours before running the motor again

Thanks TJP:

The only problem is.......that shop in Omaha is about 400 miles away. As bad is this thing is leaking I would never make it.

I wish you were 2000 miles closer to me.

Is this a new motor / leak? Has anyone taken the time to verify it is the rear main? Step #1 is diagnosis, IE: verify the source of the leak. That in itself can be time consuming but like the customer above, he threw parts at it but never verified the source.
Rear mains can be cantankerous . But should not leak horribly unless there is a problem. had another with a BB Chevy. The crank journal was pitted. We polished it a bit, put in a double lip seal and improved it but it still leaked a bit. A huge improvement but I told him no guarantees on the longevity or the repair.

So what do you have in it for seals now ? The only rope seal I currently trust is the one sold by Best Gaskets ... but that would be near impossible to install in the car ... the one sold now by felpro is crap. A lip seal is tough because the crank surface for the seal is knurled.

Direct connection sold a rear main bearing that directed the oil or relieved the pressure away from the seal area, Just had a small groove in 1/2 of the bearing as i recall.

Did you use any stiffeners to support the RTV? Many use pipe cleaners

McQuinn Auto Springfield Il. 217-523--4509 Ask for Dennis.

anti-leak main bearings as per the 1999 DC catalog.....[can't say if these are still available,or if the part numbers have been superseded]

P4349004 - B tri-metal std. size, P4876644 - tri-metal .010 undersize

P4349045 - RB/Hemi std. size, P4876645 - RB/Hemi .010 undersize

when looking at the included picture, it appears to show two very slight grooves on each side of the oil feed hole running from the bearing groove toward the inside of the engine.
as it only shows that on one bearing half, with the other bearing half laying on it's side with it's back side showing, i don't know if it's ths same or not.
as to the pipe cleaners, i would rather pack the side grooves completely with hi-temp rtv "adhesive" as opposed to regular old rtv.