I finally got the top half of the rear main seal out after cussing and hitting it for way too long. Apparently it should be relatively easy to tap on one end to push it through and out the other side. Well not this bitch. After many swear words and a broken brass punch I looked up other methods for extraction. I ended up losening all the main caps to drop the crank a little. This finally gave me enough give to get the damn thing out.
That’s one mutilated end. I tightened all the cap bolts, installed the new seal, and put in the new oil pump. I’m glad to be at the point wear things are going back together. I’m hoping to have the ‘vette off stands by the end of the month, but knowing how things usually go it’ll probably end up being sometime in August. Yay for progress though!