I couldn't get a leaking crank seal out with my Autozone seal tool.
I managed to score the bore for the seal in the aluminum housing.
The good news was I got a new housing at the local boneyard for $5
and returned to install the seal in the housing first as suggested by some
posts in the Brick archives. That method didnt work since the seal seemed twisted after installing in the housing and tore when trying to mont on the block. The suggestion to have an extra seal on hand is a great one so
I mounted the housing and Tapped in the seal OK using a big socket.
After reassembly the engine is throwing oil, and the part of the pan gasket
that seats on the bottom of the housing was missing/ baked to the old damaged housing.
Now I'm wondering how people remove their crankshaft housings to replace
seals and never had this problem, and found when you search the archives for
"pan gasket", that indeed this is reported in seemingly unrelated posts.
(Does management ever purge posts that turn out to be bad ideas?)

Now I'm hoping to run a bead of Permatex Ultra Black RTV, which has the highest
resistance to oil, between the pan and the housing and see if that will
stop the leak. I'll clean out the area with brake cleaner first, and let that
stuff dry for 24 hours before running. One poster, "Vacuumhead" claimed luck
here but only a few hours after using the RTV. I saw no further posts
from him at all so who knows if the RTV held up?

Another related question is whats the best tool to remove seals without risking
scoring the bore, I'm going to scrap my Autozone tool,designed by Murphy.
The seals were really glued into the bore of the bad housing and came out very
hard with a hammer and a hard wood punch.

Comments appreciated.

Bill