Anyone have experience changing a timing cover?

9

92WhiteTyphoon

New member
Hi,

I just bought a '92 Typhoon with a freshly rebuilt, modified engine. It has a chrome aftermarket timing cover on it that leaks oil, regardless of how much RTV is applied to it. I bought an original GM timing cover and gasket set to fix this problem. Before I embark on this project, I'm wondering if anyone with experience can point out anything I need to watch out for? Is it as simple as:

- Remove fan shroud,
- Remove fan assembly
- Put a pan under the water pump to catch coolant
- Disconnect radiator-to-water pump hose
- Loosen the belt tensioner and remove the accesory drive belt
- Loosen the bolts that attach the water pump to the engine block and water pump pulley
- Remove water pump and water pump pulley
- Loosen bolts that attach timing cover to engine block and remove timing cover
- Scrape existing gasket off of engine block where timing cover seals to the block (shouldn't be too hard - engine only has about 1,600 miles on it)
- Attach new gasket and seal to block, then mount new timing cover and tighten bolts
- Put everything back on in reverse order

What I just described is what I *think* I need to do based upon a visual inspection under the hood. Professional mechanics want 5-7 hours of labor (I think AllData said it was 5.7 hours?). So, maybe I'm missing something here? Doing it myself, I'm thinking it would take 5 hours, so a pro should eb able to do it in half that time. If it really is a six-hour job for a pro, it'll probably take me 10 hours!

Also - do I need to buy a gasket set that connects the water pump to the block on both sides, or do you just take care of sealing it with RTV silcone?

How long should I expect this to take? I do have an air impact socket wrench, which should speed things a bit.

Thanks for any input on this!

- Howard
 
S

sy1765

New member
it isn't difficult at all. you need to remove the crank pulley and harmonic balancer as well and you'll need a puller to do so. i don't remember how long it took me to tear it down that far. it took about 6 hours to change the timing chain and i had to take the timing cover and water pump off twice (don't ask).
 
canadian

canadian

sy in progress
i think green said that you need to drop the front of the oil pan to get the timing cover off... can't remember 100% though.
 
T

TechWeasel

New member
canadian said:
i think green said that you need to drop the front of the oil pan to get the timing cover off... can't remember 100% though.
Click to expand...

Yah, that's how I remember it... IIRC, the timing cover is captured by the pan. Here's a pic of what mine looked like when I took it all apart:

S5150025.JPG


Of course, it's pretty easy with the engine out of the truck... :-?

For more details, go here
 
nightdiver

nightdiver

Active member
I had to do some cutting on the inside of the timing cover to make it possible to fit with the oil pan on
Make sure that everything is clean of oil otherwise the RTV sealand wont stick
 
nick041881

nick041881

Member
you have to loosen the front of the oil pan to get it back on, or buy fel-pro gasket #tcs45121. it comes with a seperate seal for the bottom of the cover. this is how i did it and it went on perfect. dont know if it leaks or not yet because i havent started my truck!! FYI: use lots of rtv! BG suggested this stuff that i bought from napa called "the right stuff" damn good!!!
peace,
nick
 
S

Sy#26

New member
Apparently there are two types of pan gaskets in use; a three piece set, with the timing cover section as one piece, and a continuous gasket, front to rear. If you've got the one piece deal, you can pry the TC off, but it'll never go back on w/o some modding. I ground the inner lip almost completely off the TC, allowing it to slide over the remaining gasket. That, + lots of silicone goop = no leaks. Still a bit of a bear to get back on, slip a couple of screwdrivers into a couple of opposite bolt holes & lever it on.

Hint for reinstall of the vibration damper - do NOT just pull it back on w/ the crank nose bolt! Strip the crank nose threads out & you're up Shit's Creek - buy/make a bolt that screws *completely* into the crank nose & pull the VD on with its own nut. Might want to run a brake cylinder hone in the VD to ease it up a bit, too.

Yeah, a day's work, including all the trips to the store for misc bolts, tools, etc.

Barry
 
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