The dealer completed the reinstall in the MSRT8 today, and also rotated by tires (6.2k on the clock now after the trip to Cleveland and Pittsburgh this weekend). While it was "up" I asked them to complete a lube check as well... but that really doesn't pertain to this thread.
What does pertain is pictures of what the side seals should look like when everything is hunky dory. So let me remind you of the last picture with the side seals completely gone (removed by me and taken to the dealer as "evidence")...
Now here is what it is supposed to look like (less "zoom" than the previous picture by arrows used to point out approx. the same space in the "bare" picture.
It looks to me like the hard plastic portion of the seal are supposed to grip that bright aluminum "cogged" side strip, and then the soft rubber "fin" is supposed to lay over toward the car's center and flex to seal against the forward edge of the housing.
This is a little curious to me because the suction from operation of the fans (at low speed should cause this seal to "lead" and may be the driving force for pulling it into the fan housing and the blades. Under highway speeds I would think there is slight positive pressure within the housing which would tend to try to blow the seal outward and seal better.
So maybe the design problem is stop-n-go driving in which the block and coolant get so hot so as to cause both the low speed and high speed fans to engage creating lower pressure inward of the seal and such a breeze when it leaks that if it lets go the only way to "fall" is into the housing...
Well... that's my story whether it "sucks" or not! LOL