Pulling the front cover...access to timing chain

[Garage Battle]

Ok. My friend has a DOHC. He was hearing rattling in his engine since he bought it. Then it started making a lot of noise 2 days ago from the timing chain area. It went away, and now comes and goes.

He pulled the valve cover off. The top part of the timing chain guard (sits between the 2 cam gears) has apparently snapped off, and fallen into the timing chain area (i assume its now behind the motor cover).

What is the procedure for pulling the front cover off (assuming thats what i need to do). How hard is it, what shoudl I expect to get into, and what should I look out for. Any and all suggestions appreciated!!!

[Drift Machine]

Its not too hard, as long as the engine isn't still in the car. I just got done doing it on my old engine(start the rebuild today). It only took me like 30 mins but that was with it out of the car.

[bruinbear714]

you have to remove the intake tubing/hoses, radiator shroud, radiator fan, and all the belts.

Then you have to remove the crankshaft pulley. Then the bolts holding the front cover to the engine.

It sounds easy (and it is if you have done it before), but it will take you a good 4-6 hours if you never pulled the front cover off before.

Oh, and make sure you get a new front oil seal along with the timing kit when doing it.

[1dollar240]

Yeah, i would agree with about 4-6 hours if you have never done it before. I did it a week ago while the motor was in the car, but i had done it before. It only took about 2 hours, but only because i knew every nut and bolt. Goodluck- that crank pulley bolt is a biatch.

[WDRacing]

Is the front cover one piece?? Might be a dumb question but I only know RB's and V8's. The RB's have a 2 peice front cover for ease of maintenance. Maybe you guys could have your cover cut into 2 pieces for future work. Just an idea...

WD

[1dollar240]

Yeah, the front cover is 1 piece. Its kind of a pain in the ***. The way it was designed is not very helpful.

[leper421]

There is an upper and a lower cover. The upper cover is easy, remove distributer and take off bolts around the outside of the cover. You have to remove the oil pan to get the lower cover off. The oil pump is bolted to the cover from the inside, and to the oil strainer, which is bolted to the block. The cover wont come off untill you drop the oil pan and remove the one bolt holding the strainer on.