9N Front Rope Seals

You want as much material in the seal as possible. Do not stretch it or thin it.

Do not oil it prior to working the seal. Install it dry. When oiled, it frays.

There notion of leaving a little excess seal sitting proud of the mating surfaces is to cram yet a bit more seal material around the shaft. The problem is often times a bit of the seal material gets between the mating surfaces, preventing the mating surfaces from sealing, causing an oil leak.

Their recommendation is to install the seal dry, work from the outside in to get as much seal in as possible, cut flush, apply liquid sealant on the ends of the rope seals, lightly oil the surface and install.

I love trying to chase this article around. I swear, each time its got a new web page address.
You can also find it discussed several times over the years in the archives.

Do note that I specifically said you must lubricate the seal prior to engine operation. I believe you missed that part.

I&T manuals have not been updated for many years, and are a poor manual in any case. Use them if you must, but don't expect much of them.

By all means, soak the heck out of your rope seal if it seems the right thing to do to you. You're certainly not going to hurt anything by doing it. I don't think you need that much oil, and I don't think the oil disapears by wicking throughout the role seal. But you sure can burn a seal by not using enough oil.