End caps
 

Camshaft endcaps on the KV6 beltchange put me back about 2 hours today. anyone that has done this job will know the issues. with very little space to work in, and having bought new caps from rimmers , it was still a hassle. i did try a little silicon grease lube , but no, they were having non of it. they seemed to be very , very tight .The last belt change i did , i used new caps, but i dont recall having this much bother. Alignment of the caps is key as they will not go in otherwise in such a limited space work area. i had to use a combination of wooden blocks and pressed them in .... eventually. Anyone with any better ideas that would help next time ? all done now but what a game .. !!! the job has enough challenging aspects without this extra fun. ... :eek:

Pretty much what i did with the front one. Started out with all good intentions of doing a careful proper job but ended up with a block of wood against inner wing and levering in with a pry bar. Not ideal but it hasn't leaked so it's all good ;)

When helping Mr Toad last year with renewing camshafts he produced one of those long woodworking clamps which fitted nicely across the engine in situ! :clap: I wish I'd thought of that!

Earlier, on my own car, I removed the originals carefully, avoiding serious damage by rotating a jawed tool with minimum compression, and I re-used one of them. It doesn't leak! :D

Simon

Perhaps you might get away with reusing the cam caps in your mild climate but I'd advise anyone living in the Nordic area to only use new ones or seals, and not to lubricate them with anything that doesn't evaporate.
A local dealer garage only had one new cap when doing a cambelt change and reused an old one, the owner never made it home and the garage had to supply and fit a replacement engine. Common problem when the temperature goes down to below minus 20c, not helped if the breather system is partially blocked (which I know yours isn't). At the time, across town, I had some spare cam caps in the garage, but the garage never contacted me - and paid the price.

Mike

Yep , I think this is pretty much the standard way ! :}

Now that's a good idea :}
Those clamps are also good for holding the timing tool in place when setting up the pair of camshafts at the gearbox end of the heads.....

hi simon. can you describe these clamps in a little more detail please ? i have large "G" clamps and also a long arm clamp for wood , but i cannot see anywhere to attach or implement a similar devise. it must have been huge ... :}

It was this sort of thing Stefan.

Simon

Edit: Please see post no. 10 where Mr Toad advises us that it was this tool.

thankyou simon. i have a similar device , but only about 2ft reach span. i just wondered where the opposite end to the caps was located on the tool that you saw during that particular repair that you mentioned... amazon link appreciated simon thankyou. ... ;)

Hi Stefan,

Mr Toad was operating the clamp and I was observing with interest. I imagine that, in order to press the new end cap into place in perfect alignment (which we all know is essential to success), he located the other end of the tool in the centre of the rear exhaust sprocket wheel.

Simon

When Simon was very helpfully giving me a hand last year with sorting out the thermostat situation which included replacement of the camshafts because the ends had broken off. The reason for that was that the instructions with the Laser Tool timing kit was wrong in that they stated that the tools were ok for a KV6 180 which was not the case. The camshafts for the 180 are the same as the 190 so you need the adapters for the 190. They were not available at the time so I modified the 2.0lt horsesho, following advice on here, and with that the timing was properly adjusted in about 10 minutes. I drew that to Laser Tools attention but they insisted that their tools and the instructions were correct. A letter to the Managing Director was ignored. Laser tools should really pay for the broken camshafts!

So far as the clamp is concerned I believe it was a Draper F Clamp 500x120mm I purchased it from toolstationx part number 28859. It was about £12 but I see it has increased in price like everything at the moment to £14.69.

It is easier to use if you remove the sprocket covers. If you are doing a cam belt change they will already be off. You may need a piece of wood between the moving part of the clamp and the sprocket. It is much easier if you have an assistant like Simon holding or guiding the fixed clamp end on the cap so that it goes in square. Once you get the hang of it is quite simple and saves so much time and ensures the cap is fitted correctly and will not leak.

Good luck
Martin