I'm doing my first engine rebuild and I yanked the old rear main seal and reinstalled the new one. All the documentation I've read said the seal needs to be flush. What does that mean? I hammered the hell out of it with a 2x4 and it's still not flush like the one I yanked out. I'm worried I damaged it in the process. Is the thing installed correctly? Included some pics below. The engine is a gm 262/4.3l v6.

Did you clean and lube the surfaces?

I did, thoroughly prior to installing.

Did you compare it to the old seal to make sure you bought/received the right part?

No I neglected to compare. The rear seal came in a kit from rock auto. Every thing else fit fine.

Were you supposed to seat it in the seal housing before attaching it to the block?

Have you looked for any youtube videos or searched for pics/videos that might give you some insight? Even if not the exact same year model, sometimes may find that one little clue or tip that lets you see how it fits or what might be causing incorrect fit.

Any chance you put it in backwards?

Duncan Idaho said:

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Were you supposed to seat it in the seal housing before attaching it to the block?

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THIS

Yep. Those four bolts should drop that 1piece seal housing.

You can remove the old seal before taking the housing off of the block, but install the new one with an arbor press.