TIMING CHAIN REMOVAL

Christmas and New Year celebrations at last all over and I couldn't wait any longer to get back into the garage. It was too cold to contemplate keep putting my hands into a bucket of cold water whilst using wet 'n' dry emery paper to rub down the red Hammerite in the engine day and as I had already removed the crankshaft bolt, I decided to get on with replacing the timing chains, guides and sprockets.

I pushed the car far enough out of the garage so I could spray on degreaser to the front of the engine and bay and after vigorous brushing I gently hosed it clean. I downloaded the Rimmer Bros., YouTube timing chain instruction video onto my computer which I set up on the scuttle and I was ready to go.

First off was the air cleaner, carb elbows and cam covers, exposing the cams, the picture was taken after the chain and cam sprocket were removed.

The numerous bolts securing the timing chest cover are all different lengths so I inserted then into a piece of cardboard in the right order to ensure they went back into the correct holes.

The tricky bit is separating the bottom of the cover from the sump gasket, I did as shown in the video with a scalpel, but still manage to leave a short length attached to the cover when I tapped it loose, hopefully some silicon gasket sealer should ensure an oil tight seal on reassembly.

I followed the video procedure, using tippex to highlight the essential timing marks,the cloth at the bottom is to ensure nothing falls into the sump whilst I undo all the bits and bobs. I started to remove tensioners, sprockets, chains and guides on the right side with no problems

The left side removal was a little more complicated as the jack shaft sprocket nut was reluctant to undo, but using the same procedure for undoing the crankshaft bolt, it came loose and now only the two crankshaft sprockets had to be removed. using my large puller they easily slipped down the shaft over the woodruff keys and now everything was off.

 

Now I could inspect everything, in fact the tensioner and guides seemed to show minimal wear with little extension to the tensioners, indicating very little stretch of the chains but there was damage to some of the teeth on the crankshaft sprockets and some scarring at the bottom of the inside of the cover, so I decided to replace everything. In the meantime I reseated the exhaust up pipe to manifold, it had obviously been blowing and I eventually realised the upstand protruding from the up pipe was preventing the flanges mating properly. I ground off a couple of mm from the upstand and with a bit of silencer glupe I now have a nice tight joint, which should considerable improve the exhaust note and stop the mild backfiring on overrun.

 The timing chain cover has been cleaned, but still have to remove the remaining bits of the old gaskets and all the new parts ordered, best quality German chains and properly hardened sprockets etc. should be here soon.