Good day all!!

Well, it has been a fun time these past few days!! Here is another picture of the cam positions at TDC...







Oh, don’t forget to clean this bracket!! It tells you a secret!!



I got all the brackets on the front... And the VANOS solenoids installed... Make sure they go all the way to the block!!







Here are the brackets...









And I didn’t mess with these the entire time!!







For the valve covers... Get these!!!Mine are on the way...I would have them today, but I somehow missed ordering them this last go around...They should be here tomorrow...



Okay, that brings me up to today (9 June 2016)...... For the past few days I have been thinking about the union between the inner metal tube and the timing chain cover...I didn’t get the new tube...I just couldn’t justify the 63 bucks for a gasket...So, I made the seal out of some O-rings...However, in my mind when I set the initial position, I pictured a thin “oil pan” type gasket...Not the 1.5mm think gasket...I didn’t put two and two together until after I had it all together...So, I pulled it apart today to make sure this was not going to be the “common” failure point in this motor...I was right to do so too...I found the O-ring barely touching the timing cover...



However, I also discovered that the gasket sealer got pushed through the gap between the tube and the gap...



I pulled this cover to access the pipe... If you reuse your old cover with just sealer holding it in place, be ready for some slow going getting it off...I pried up on the tube opening until I noticed the whole plate flexing!!I thought I was going to break the casting right where it dips down into the block...BUT, I am sure it won’t leak when I put it back!! So, I couldn’t get the tube free at the end... But, with no cover, I could wrap my hands around it here and spin it...I pulled the tube all the way out and started over...

I initially had two O-rings that were the same size... They fit between the pipe and the block...I used one of those and the old O-ring from the other end of the pipe...It was just about 4mm thick and gave me the perfect amount of room between the block and cover...



With the cover off, my fingers kept hitting this gasket sealer... Grrrr!!The O-ring is just barely touching the cover here...And it has room to get pushed into the space where the second O-ring use to be...



And the inside of the pipe... I feel confident this will provide way more seal than should be required...And dare I say, WAY better than the original method, even if it isn’t as pretty...



Ahhhhh, now the part that bothered me the whole time about this “rework”!! Pulling the cover off without touching the heads or timing...Oddly, it wasn’t that hard pulling it apart...Drop the bottom and top oil pan...I just loosened the top pan...







Slowly work the cover off evenly!!

Getting it back on is a bit more...... Annoying...Ya gotta make sure you get the thin layers of the gaskets in place before you get crazy about pushing the cover back in place...It is a tight fit under the head gaskets!!And the front of the oil pan gasket will catch on the cover when it is almost in place...





New pipe!! Get it...It’s only about $20...



FYI... They put the pin and the crank key lined up with this rib on the cover when you are at TDC...



That is about it for now... Almost time to get installed...I’m going a little slow now so I don’t rush to install it and forget something in the process...Think I may put the covers on now so I don’t have to deal with them later...



Cheers for now all!!