MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
hey gang:
Long time no post..... I am leaking oil (hard to believe) from my timing cover and oil pan. Has anyone changed these two gaskets. Is this a weekend job or a half day job. Need to know how much time my wife will need to spend at the mall and how much time this will take (cost me in shopping dollars)
With a 77 you can do it without pulling the rad - I did that job in 1 day going slow on a 75 and the rad removal was required. I also replaced the cork strip seal at the front of the block/front plate interface.
Hate to tell you this... it still leaked after I did the job just not so much.
Took me a couple hours to do the timing cover gasket and I'm slow. I put one of my wife's cookie sheets over the radiator to protect it when I pulled and reinstalled the crank pulley just to be safe. Then I figured out the oil pan gasket leaks too. The new one is on the bench awaiting my spring oil change.
Sometimes you can fix oil leaks by simply tightening the bolts a bit more, then peen the edge of the timing cover and oil pan down a bit. Sometimes they leak from being bent the last time they were removed. By peening the edges between the bolts, you're applying more pressure to the gaskets.
Allow at least an afternoon.
The easiest way to change the pan gasket is to remove the engine mount bolts then jack the engine up by the pan (use a block of wood to spread the load) and slip a piece of 2x4 between each of the mounts and the frame brackets. That will give you a couple of extra inches to get at the pan bolts.
Rich
I don't know about a 77, but decades ago i did this on a 66 and the timing cover was tied to the oil pan with studs in the cover so it was necessary to pull this off enough to get the studs out (which was a problem with the cross member, working on my front lawn). turned out to be a larger job than I'd promised myself when i started.
today I'd just jack up the engine a little, but i couldn't then.
rich, if i did it your way, would there be enough clearance to replace my worn engine mounts? the new ones are on the workbench and i wouldn't have thought about doing it this way.
"The easiest way to change the pan gasket is to remove the engine mount bolts then jack the engine up by the pan (use a block of wood to spread the load) and slip a piece of 2x4 between each of the mounts and the frame brackets. That will give you a couple of extra inches to get at the pan bolts."
Figures. I just put in new engine mounts - what a pain on a RB. I am getting really good at doing stuff completely out of order.
Here's hoping you can pull the oil pan with the mounts in place!
Permatex Ultra Black Maximum Oil Resistance RTV Silicone.. Nothing better..