Thread: sr20 engine gods plz chime in.

I have a question. I've search here and on sr20forums, this is about removing the timing cover. Some posts said that I need to remove the upper oil pan to remove the timing cover. Is this true. I have a haynes repair manual here and in this book it doesnt say anything about removing the oil pans to remove the cover. plz help.

It's (thankfully) been a long while, but I believe you do indeed have to remove the upper oil pan (incl. the two 10mm nuts inside the flywheel access plate) to get the front cover off.

If I remember correctly, the oil pump gets in the way otherwise. Sorry I don't have pictures to confirm this anymore.

And don't forget the screws on the top that go through the head down.

What a crock. It can't be done without all that work?

Nope. Unfortunately, I've had the displeasure of removing the timing cover not only once, but THREE times!

You need to pull upper and lower pans, and pull the passenger side mount. Make sure you pull pans first, then re-attach the crossmember to support the block. Otherwise, you're going to remove the pass mount and the motor's going to sag too much.

I had the joy of doing this 4 times in two months - had oil pump issues. I have tried to do it without removing the upper pan completely, though. Maybe that's remotely possible; I'm almost sure it'll be close to impossible to reseal correctly afterwards, though, not to mention you might crack the upper pan by attempting bending it against the xmember.

Yep, guess you better bite the bullet. The proverbial ounce of prevention.