[Joe K]

The leading edge (rearmost) of the pulley sleeve is made to a taper. I have speculated that this was a manufacturing expediency adopted by Ford for putting the pulley/sleeve in place after assembly of the motor.

You may be able to land the lower seal in the oil pan groove (without taking the pan off) and then press in directly on the sleeve/pulley and cause the taper to compress the lower seal rope. THEN put on the upper cover with it's seal rope doing the "push down" thing on the cover to get the bolting to line up.

Or you may be able to install both upper and lower seal in their grooves, assemble both pan and cover to the block, and then gently push in the sleeve thereby compressing both upper and lower (and maintaining the best possible seal around the oil pan gasket/front cover.)

This the way I think Ford did it originally.

Something I'm going to experiment with on the next engine build.

Joe K