First, lemme apologize in advance if this was posted before... cuz I just ran a search, and nothing relating to this came up.

Anyways, my brother's harmonic balancer just 'went' on his 87 TA.... and it tore a hole right through the stock timing chain cover. So, of course, everything came off.... and the damper was pulled etc...

We picked up a cheap replacement from Pep Boys (Spectre piece), and just finished driving in the seal (which took an hour if you can believe it.... it just wouldn't sit right. But this is what you get when you go 'cheap')!

We wanted to make this quick and painless, and heard many a story of how people installed the cover's without dropping (or prying) the oil pan off/down.

I for one am not secure with this method... and contacted Summit just to get an opinion. What they gave us was an awesome tip, however, we were curious to see how this held out in the long run.

They told us to (with a hacksaw), cut off the lip on the back of the replacement timing chain cover (not the whole thing.... just the part that goes down, and secures the main seal in it's place). Basically, there will still be something to 'press' down on the rubber main seal, just not 'locking' it in.

This makes it SO much easier, but was curious to hear if anyone tried this.... and what were the results in the long haul.

Thanks guys/gals.....

 

Yes, that's what we all do. It works pretty well.

All you really have to cut off to get it to go together is the very corners of it, about ¼" or so.... that's enough to get it to clear.

 

Thanks Bro!!!

I'm cutting as of right now. I just wanted to be sure that it wouldn't leak, and now that I know that it's common.... I'll give it a try.

 

Just make sure to put a slight amount of silicone on the gasket and goober the corners that you cut or it will leak.

 

Yeah... I put a nice amount on both sides of the gasket, then just poured a great deal on the back of the cover's lip, and all over the top of the main seal.

It's been a few hours so far, and just to be on the safe side, we're going to wait another hour just to be sure that it all cure's.

Thanks guys!!!

 

Hmm... never heard RB called "Bro" before, lol

 

LMAO... sorry RB, I meant thanks 'sis'!

 

Pretty sure he'd rather be tagged "Bro", than 'Sis"

 

Now I'm confused.

How bout just plain ole 'thank you'...

 

Id get a quality not chrome aluminum piece...they are only like $30-40 bucks.

I have never had much luck with chrome timing chain covers, they always leak horribly.

 

I absolutely agree with you.... but we were in a rush, and this is all that Pep Boys had in stock. The Spectre piece seems weaker (comparing it with the stocker), so we used two sets of gaskets, along with a lot of silicone.

So far so good. We had her running way above 5000 RPM, and no leaks as of yet (fingers crossed).....