Hello, the two piece neoprene seal in the 1950-54 232 blocks is not recommended, too many instances of them failing,and leaking due to poor fit in the grooves that were machined for a rope type seal. Throw the two piece neoprene seal away, and buy the Best Gasket Graphtite rope seal, kit number 5206.
The piston of the pressure relief valve is probably stuck in old gummy oil/ sludge. Spray some brake cleaner or carb cleaner, or PB Blaster in there and let it soak a day or more.....then get a thread cutting tap, I think it was about 9/16" or 5/8" and turn it clockwise into the hollow of that piston. It should turn just a bit and "bite" and start turning the piston. As it turns, carefully withdraw the piston and tap from the block, then turn the tap counterclockwise to get it out of the piston.
Yes, the the new oil pump drive gear needs to be carefully pressed on, taking care to line the hole in the gear up with the hole in the shaft. Once they are lined up so the pin fits through both, pull the pin back out and get a proper sized drill to drill through the other side of the gear. IF using a solid mild steel pin, then the pin needs to be about 1/8" longer than the OD of the gear shank, so it protrudes 1/16" on each side so you can rivet the ends over to secure it. I have used a split spring pin with no problems. The pin should shear, if the pump were to seize up for any reason, to save the camshaft from damage.

Dave, where are you located?

Vancouver WA.

[quote="Dave Dawson" post=25889]I'm rebuilding a 232, first Hudson engine for me. Any tips/tricks/pitfalls to using the 2 piece neoprene rear main seal?
Whats the procedure to removing the oil pressure relief valve from the block? I've removed the plug & spring, the plunger/valve is stuck.
I have a new oil pump drive gear, it's only drilled for the retaining pin on one side. I presume it needs to be drilled for the pin to extend through? What's the procedure for this?
Thanks in advance for any information.
Dave

Just rebuilt my 232 last spring. Neoprene seal leaked when installed, Wildrick doesn't advertise the graphite seal but they have them and will sell them! My rear main now leaks just a tiny bit and I have no complaints on that. Btw, I did not pin the seal in place, used rtv and followed all other directions and it's doing fine after about 13,000 miles of driving. Oil pump gear pin: scared me, so I had the machinist who was boring the block affix the gear to the shaft and pin it. He charged less than S50 and I didn't have to worry about it being wrong. However, I do think that the teeth on the gear are in a different position relative to the pin than the factory one, which made setting the oil pump difficult - it was never at the exact position the manual indicated it should be and this threw my timing setting off, may be an issue for you as well. I ended up taking dwell out of my points to advance the timing back to acceptable, which isn't ideal but hasn't hurt anything. I hear (from Dr. Doug) that the adjustment plate in the distributor can be reversed to give extra advance, haven't tried that yet. DO NOT pull the 4th (lowest) piston ring apart to install - it will snap in half! That ring must be wound onto the piston and it's terrifying. The top three rings can be expanded and slid over normally. Also, be very careful reinstalling the manifolds -I thought I was being careful and conservative and my exhaust manifold cracked anyway. Ended up hand-filing a replacement to try to even out mounting surfaces of all the runners, and I have an exhaust leak again, hopefully just manifold gasket (I doubled them up to provide extra cushioning after cracking manifold number 1) and that went well for the first 10k miles. The cold valve settings from Walt Mordenti have worked well for me. If you have other questions, feel free to message me or post here - lots of guys with way more experience and knowledge on here than me!

Hudson had a timing tool that goes in to the distributor hole and down to the oil pump bronze gear keyed end. The tool has a pin that is in the top that you line up with tbe distributor hold down bolt. Once in that position, the keyed end goes into the oil pump gear then you start installing the oil pump into the block by gently pushing it in while the bronze gear rotates onto the cam gear. The timing tool pin will rotate as you slide the oil pump into place. It will put the #1 plug wire around the twelve oclock position if I remember right. This is different then other motors I have worked on, as #1 points toward the # 1 plug as the rotor will point that way. Without that tool to index the bronze gear to the cam gear, the keyed end can wind up in any position allowing the distributor shaft to be out of positon which will make the rotor pointing to #1 out as well so you have to adjust #1 spark plug positon on the cap.

I am rebuilding a 232 right now and think I'll change the timing position to allow the rotor to point to "1 spark plug as I think it is more intuitive.

I don't have that tool, but in trying to follow the manual on where the rotor should point I could get it either a bit ahead of or a bit behind the mark, but never on, which made me question the alignment of the pin hole on the new gear relative to the old one. I ended up having to advance the timing beyond the amount the slot would allow, and that's why I took dwell out. By the way, Dave, pay attention to the keyway on the oil pump shaft -- it's slightly offset, and the distributor should only go into it one way.