I gotta put a new head gasket on my 22R. Okay, it needs a whole new head, but anyway... Im looking over the FSM and im wondering what I can do about the timing chain? Am I pretty much committed to removing the chain & everything associated? Or can I somehow put the cam sprocket and chain out of the way and reassemble without messing with the bottom end?

Ive done plenty of head gaskets, but all on Subaru flat four motors, which of course is way different. Never had to play with a chain before and kinda intimidated.

Thanks in Advance,
-Brian

 

You can suspend the upper sprocket. If it slips though, you get to dive in. Not actually done it this way though, the timing chain generally dies before the HG.

 

Well, the gasket should be fine, but my heads forkedup and I need to install a new head. So, along with it comes a new gasket.

 

Not that hard to pull the timing cover, and you'll have a much easier time of it.

 

You dont even need to touch the timing cover. That head can be off the truck in an hour. Bring it up to TDC. mark the chain link that is on the tdc mark on the cam gear for reference. Remove the cam gear bolt and pull off the bolt and dist drive gear. Pull the cam gear off the cam and slip it out of the chain. Drop the chain down in the cover and thats that!. When you go to reassemble use a magnet to get the chain. It wont jump time or anything from being dropped into the cover. Dont forget the 8mm bolt hidden in the oil under the dist drive gear that goes thru the head into the tcover. Trying to pull the head without removing this bolt will break the cover. This is a super easy job to do. Normally I wouldnt recommend this company but I just flipped a truck I bought and needed to replace the head. I priced reman heads from a company here my shop get them at and they wanted $450. I did some research and found attarco had brand new cyl heads with new cams, valves and everything including a gasket set for $250! I got it all together and it worked great. You cant beat that for the price. Do a net search for attarco and they have it on the website

 

Thanks for the tips. Im going to tear into it this weekend and see how far I can get w/out going too far.

Cant afford even a $250 head. Been seeing them on craigslist from anywhere between $40 & $150. A buddy of mine might have one he will give to me... we'll see.

 

Agreed, if you don't have to deal with seized nuts and bolts, labeling vacuum tubes, bagging parts etc... You've probably done dozens of them and know them like the back of your hand.

I think it took me at least 4 hours to remove the head on my 22re the first time I tried.