A scroll compressor has a recess cut into a surface of a crankcase or an orbiting scroll while there is no material removed next to the seals that seal refrigerant in the back chamber located between the orbiting scroll and crankcase. Because there is no material removed next to the seals, the gap between the orbiting scroll and crankcase remains intact in the sealing area and the seals continue to operate properly preventing the refrigerant leakage through the gap. In this case, the dimensional tolerances of the crankcase and orbiting scroll surfaces need only be tightly controlled in the area adjacent to the seals. The surface areas away from the seals do not require tight tolerance control, thus manufacturing and assembly is simplified and possibility of interference due to small gap between orbiting scroll and crankcase is avoided. In the preferred embodiment, the recess is introduced into the back chamber surface area of the crankcase.