Some thoughts and photos of my HG and cambelt replacement!

[MGFmad]

After fitting a replacement HG and cambelt on my 1999 VVC MGF this weekend, I though I would share a few thoughts and ideas that may be of help to anyone doing the same procedure.

I had early signs of HGF, mayo in the oil and oil in the coolant together with a daily top up of coolant, luckily it was a slight loss and the engine kept its correct temperature so I did not have to contend with a cooked engine.

Overall, I found the access to the engine in the MGF to be quite good and certainly much better than expected. I have a copy of the Rover RAVE workshop manual and used this as a guide.

I removed the very tight crankshaft pulley bolt by putting the car in 4th gear, getting a helper to apply the brakes and then wedging a tyre lever into the wheel studs and the floor, the photo shows the procedure (rear disc needs replaced!)



I removed the engine mount bolts early on in the process, this allowed the engine to be jacked up and down as required to give better access to some components, the workshop manual suggests removing the mount only when you need to remove the cambelt, but its best doing it earlier. The photo shows the camlock tool in place however its quite long and will stop the engine from being lowered, I cut about 10mm off the end of the locking tool.





The worst part for access is getting to the cambelt tensioner, I have a manual tensioner and you need to loosen the bolt to the RHS of the photo (8mm) and the tensioner centre bolt in the centre of the roller – use an allan key or suitable socket. (see text further on for a method to gain more access)



Once the tensioner is loose, the belt can easily be removed. The remainder of the dismantling process for taking the head off is quite straightforward, I used a strong lever wedged into the camwheels to secure them whilst removing the centre bolts (very tight)

I decided to remove the inlet manifold and retain in the car to save disturbing the fuel lines, the top part (VVC) separates easily from the lower part with 5 bolts, then after the various plugs, hoses and accelerator cable are removed, it lifts out.


The photo above shows the remaining lower part of the inlet manifold, there are 4 bolts (10mm) below the inlet ducts that have to be removed, access is tight but it can be done with a selection of extension bars.

This next photo I used to remember where all the various coloured plugs go!



Then, a few more hoses connected to the head itself, also at the passenger side, where 2 coolant hoses connect onto a stub from the head, there are also 2 electrical connectors, 1 on the side (brown) which is visible, the other (blue) which is hidden connects underneath the stub.

When undoing the head bolts, there are 2 that will not remove until you turn the RH cam wheel to allow clearance, I had already removed the wheels so a temporary refit was required.

When lifting the head off, be careful not to foul any valves sticking out underneath, then make up a suitable tool to fix to the block to stop the liners moving. I used 22mm copper pipe cut to 110mm long and large washers, retained in place with the head bolts –



My gasket had failed all along the 3 head bolts and 2 waterways on the RHS. I replaced it with a Landrover MLS gasket and steel dowels.

In the true Haynes tradition, refitting is the reverse of removal! But a couple of points.

To refit the lower inlet manifold bolts, its impossible to get your hand close enough to start the bolts in their thread so I taped each one to the socket as shown, this worked very well.



When refitting the cambelt, even with the tensioner bolts loose I could not get the belt over the tensioner pulley, to be honest I lost my temper at this point because of the restricted access and grabbed a large welding clamp, clamped it to the inner wing and pulled the wing out. What a difference this made, easy access at last. Don’t know why Rover did not fit a removable access panel here.

I removed the RH tensioner bolt and left the allan key bolt loose. This allows the tensioner to drop down further and the belt to slide on with ease. Then it’s a simple case of refitting the RH bolt and tensioning the belt.

This photo shows the improved access, RH tensioner bolt removed and the greater range of movement of the tensioner.

When finished the inner wing easily pushed back into place.

[Tim.]

Top post MGFmad, and nice clear pics

We need more like this.

Have some rep

[wildmurphy]

stirling work there mate!!

If mine goes again i shall be doing it myself!

[Broon]

Thats fantastic. Thanks a lot

[Baracus]

well done m8

[Petevick]

excellent post buddy.......but black text on the dark blue forum default background is unreadable unless you highlight it

rep on its way

[Chris T]

Great thread!

I have changed the text colour so that everyone should be able to see it.

[Petevick]

nice one St Chris

[iaross]

Great post, pics are excellent, top tips in there too. We need more of these sort of posts...

Iain

[MGFmad]

Thanks for the comments.

Don't know where the black text came from! I don't remember changing the font colour. White is much easier on the eye.

[ErikB]

Top posting.

I am not too keen on your technique about blocking the wheel using two of the wheel bolts. Using a tool with air pressure (sorry don't know the name) could do the job. Otherwise: 4th gear, handbrake fully on and someone using the brake pedal like during an emergency stop. After all, it's only 210Nm :wink:

Another thing, you don't mention anything about timing and the marks at the crankshaft


Other than that, great posting, great tips and damn.... great pics as those aren't too easy to get.

To use ebay terminology: A+A+A+A+A+A+A+A+

:lol

[D.R.]

Sticky please Mods

[Sprinter]

Well unarchived DR - a help to many of us.

[Petevick]

also added to my web site