Removing timing chain cover

[JeremyD]

Has anyone removed the timing chain cover with the engine in the car? I guess the answer depends on whether the crank pulley can be removed. I’m interested to know if anyone has done this and what the issues are.

[Peter Laidler]

Thinking on my feet, I'm sure that there will be other obstacles than just the pulley. But I bet you that it's like a few other things on a mini. By the time you get part way into the job - with the engine in place and much else removed for ease of access, you'll be saying to yourself non too polite words like '.......I wish I'd just taken the xxxxing engine out to start with......'

That'd be my take on the subject.

[Herbert]

Yes you can. Ive done it in my car. I must stress that I have the split pulley setup, so it cleared the radiator support bracket and mounting. You have to remove the steady rod on the clutch side. undo the engine mounting on the rad side and jack the engine up as far as it can go. Then take the rad out and get loads of band aids for your knuckles when you are removing the fan....
In all honesty, its just as easy to take the lump out and give the engine bay a good clean up. It will probably take just as much time...Good luck ! R

[johnv]

. 2hrs tops start to finish

MS

Yeah, right

[JeremyD]

Thank you everyone. I don’t have the pulley with the separate damper. It’s the one piece pulley, so that may be a problem getting it off. I was concerned about getting some sort of gear puller in there, unless it comes off with a bit of jiggling which is normally the case.

I guess it’s worth a try. Not sure about the 2 hours but I am sure about the knuckles. If it turns out too difficult, the engine will have to come out.

[Andrew1967]

Can’t see why taking the whole unit out is better than just taking the rad out and supporting the engine to remove the bracket to then take the pulley and thus the timing cover.

A Mk3/4 with the later single piece rad cowl and no inner wing shroud would be far easier and much quicker to do than to remove the fan from a Mk1/2 before taking the rad out which let’s face it is a bastard job.

Later car 2 hrs … can’t see why not

[IslandBlue]

Definitely - did it on a Mk3/4 years ago to change the timing chain and can't recall it being problematic at all. It was the best fix I've ever done on a Mini, it rattled like a tin of nails before and sounded like a sewing machine afterwards, parts cost peanuts - miraculous!

[Earwax]

Make sure your preparation /cleaning is up to scratch and take your time.

I have done a cover in a leyland car in situ once,,,, but the job was terrible and more importantly the outcome for me sadly was a fail. I needed to fix a leak...... ( well 2 leaks actually - one under the cover and one in the seal ) - leak returned - too much haste not enough care.

The fix lasted long enough to get past the inspection but not much longer. The second time, i decided to pull the motor and give everything a decent clean - do a few others things as well play with the speedo cable and did a diff side cover gasket.. Well my 'speedy job" hadn't managed to scrape off all the old gasket and little bit of RTV from the old timing cover. The face of the cover needed a little reshaping from being pulled down unevenly as well.- no wonder it releaked.

So whether you want to save some time by doing the job in situ or not - don't skimp on the time needed to do the job well - and if you are not sure whether you can achieve a "GOOD' fix , i would suggest going the engine out route.

Please note this is a sad tale about my failings - hoping that others don't make the same mistake.

[timmy201]

. 2hrs tops start to finish

MS

Yeah, right

Your doing it wrong then mate, don't call me a liar I REALLY don't like it.

MS

I’d agree 2 hours is about right. I changed the water pump and speedo drive gears in my car in about 2 hours, and it’s a similar amount of work

[whitewithblackroof]

I did mine over the winter, it’s actually a pretty stress free job to do in reality even the radiator fan removal i can do quite swiftly now (ratchet spanner has been the saver here)

[imack]

Took one off in situ years ago on a '71 850 to do a cam swap. I don't remember any major issues but I was nearly 40 years younger, more flexible and could see!!

[Dr S]

Did mine recently for the charger install. No great shakes to get the pulley off. Pulling the rad is always a bit of a bear.
The times quoted sound about right if you have tools to hand a plan.

[goff]

Make sure your preparation /cleaning is up to scratch and take your time.

I have done a cover in a leyland car in situ once,,,, but the job was terrible and more importantly the outcome for me sadly was a fail. I needed to fix a leak...... ( well 2 leaks actually - one under the cover and one in the seal ) - leak returned - too much haste not enough care.

The fix lasted long enough to get past the inspection but not much longer. The second time, i decided to pull the motor and give everything a decent clean - do a few others things as well play with the speedo cable and did a diff side cover gasket.. Well my 'speedy job" hadn't managed to scrape off all the old gasket and little bit of RTV from the old timing cover. The face of the cover needed a little reshaping from being pulled down unevenly as well.- no wonder it releaked.

So whether you want to save some time by doing the job in situ or not - don't skimp on the time needed to do the job well - and if you are not sure whether you can achieve a "GOOD' fix , i would suggest going the engine out route.

Please note this is a sad tale about my failings - hoping that others don't make the same mistake.

That's a good honest reply Earwax , unless you are in a race !! take your time as they say " measure twice cut once "

[Richspec]

it depends on the car and rad/rad shroud/fan combination, I've had to do it in situ as i'd just put the motor back in and was chasing a mystery oil leak which i thought (wrongly) had to be the timing cover gasket.
It was an absolute bastard of a job and it would have been easier to just bite the bullet and pull the whole thing back out. Yes more work but less stressful and damaging to the skin on my hands and the fins on the radiator.
Theres so little room to undo stuff in the mk1's with the cowl on the wing, your point about the puller and the bottom pulley is valid, it was really tight to get a puller on the pulley, again due to that inner wing shroud being EXACTLY in the way.

[bwaminispeed]

Yeah, MKI/MKII.......You can't take the rad out until you take the fan off, and, you can't take the fan off till you take the rad out......

Only did one once in situ, was a full days knuckle busting work.......found it much quicker and easier to drop the whole subframe/power unit after that.......

When the MKIIIs came along, it became a couple of hour doddle to do it......

[timmy201]

I didn't find it that hard on my mk1... I removed the engine mount bolts from the LH side and loosened the RH side. Undid the engine steady, top rad bracket, top hose and pump side of the lower hose.
With a jack under the LH side of the engine & removing the vertical lower rad bracket to engine mount bracket bolts I was able to lift the radiator up and out - looking at the time stamps on my photos this was 35 minutes to get it out including draining the rad (this was rad, shroud and lower hose as one unit)

[JeremyD]

Yeah, MKI/MKII.......You can't take the rad out until you take the fan off, and, you can't take the fan off till you take the rad out......

I’m not sure about that. Remove top radiator cowl. Remove lower hose, and lift radiator out of the lower cowl with fan in place.

[Peter Laidler]

Once bitten, twice shy. When I was restoring my Mk2S I l'd already learned from experience. DO NOT replace the fixed inner wing cowling. The absence of the wing-side cowling as per the Mk3 makes jobs on the left hand/nearside side of the engine bay sooooooo much easier.

I realise that leaving the wing-side cowling off ain't going to win you any concourse points. But thermally, that wing cowling serves no useful purpose whatsoever

['S'-type]

Running a two-blade fan makes life a little easier in this department, also changing a fanbelt by the roadside is less of a faff.

[JeremyD]

DO NOT replace the fixed inner wing cowling. The absence of the wing-side cowling as per the Mk3 makes jobs on the left hand/nearside side of the engine bay sooooooo much easier.

I realise that leaving the wing-side cowling off ain't going to win you any concourse points. But thermally, that wing cowling serves no useful purpose

Where do I rest the spanners I’m not using?