Removal/Refit of cam cover gasket 1108cc engine

How to remove and refit camshaft cover gasket, cento sporting 1108cc

Tools needed
10mm spanner
10mm socket with small extension
13mm spanner
small screwdriver

Time
Allow 1 hour, I did it in considerably less time than that, taking my time as well as taking pics.

Difficulty
Easy!! a good job for a newbie to this model of car, or motoring to carry out.

Job is best done on a cold engine, make sure the keys arent in the ignition, as you dont want somebody to start it while you carry out this job. Please take care with handling old engine oil, if you have sensitive skin use vinyl or latex mechanic gloves.

Removal



This guide is based upon a standard engine with standard airbox fitted as above.

The gasket fails after years of being there and this means oil drips down the front face of the cylinder head and engine, like in my pic below:



Here we go then!!

1] First remove the front part of the airbox, two clips on each side and a small wire clip below that fits onto the cylinder head, then using a 10mm spanner or socket, remove the top part that fits to the SPI unit, once undone, you may have to remove two small vacuum pipes from underneath - mine arent there cos I blocked them up, you also have to remove the oil breather pipe attached to the left hand side, then you will have this:


2] Undo the 13mm nut at the cable end of the accelerator cable, unhook the end of the cable from the throttle spindle, you will have to pull the cable up and open the throttle fully by hand, the end of the cable then slips out to the side, pull the cable through the bracket where the nut was.


3] Pull off the breather hose, and if you want to, remove the oil cap at this stage. I moved the water hose from the expansion tank to SPI unit to one side, I hooked it over the back of the filler cap of the tank.


4] Undo the 4 x 10mm bolts holding the cover, make sure to use a good 10mm socket and hold it squarely to the bolt when undoing, to stop the bolt head from being rounded off, here we have the cover removed and placed upside down on the top of the engine, looks quite clean in mine, considering the oil is about a year old!! A high mileage or neglected engine might have a thicker tar like substance inside it and inside the cover.


5] With the cover now removed, put it down in a place where it isnt going to drop, or get kicked. Clean up the face of the cylinder head where the gasket fitted, removing any old sealant if any is left. Take care at this stage as you dont want any parts or bits of dirt dropping into the top of the engine.


6] Here we have the cam cover upside down, and the new gasket, mine is an FAI gasket, I have used this make for years, and always found them to be very good. My gasket was £2.83 from my local autofactor.


7] Using a small screwdriver to pick it out, carefully remove the old gasket from the cover, once removed, have a quick check to make sure your new gasket is the same, it may need turning upside down or back to front to make it match up



Refitting the gasket, and put it all back together

8] With the old gasket removed, get your new gasket into place, making sure its the right way up - the gasket has an "edge" that you push into the cover


9] Press the gasket into the cover all the way round, taking care not to bend it, it has to be totally flat and fully pushed in, otherwise it will leak once refitted. Take special care around the curved ends, and where the bolts fit, take your time here, feel free to give the inside of the cover a clean if you want to. I was going to paint the outside of my cover at this point, but then I thought "nah!!"



10] Once you are happy with how your new gasket fits, you can take it back to the car and start refitting the parts, starting with the cam cover placed in the engine, and the bolts refitted and tightened up.


11] Before you fit the throttle cable, move the water pipe back [if you moved it out of the way] then refit the breather hose and oil cap. When refitting throttle cable make sure you fit the cable end into the spindle first, I forgot this bit after securing the cable nut and only realised when I attempted to rev the car!! DOH!!!
Refit the top part of the airbox, making sure to reconnect any vacuum pipes you may have, and the breather pipe on the rear left


12] Follow then with the front half of the airbox, this is a good time to check the air filter condition.


Thats it!!
Check everything is ok, at this point I squirted some engine cleaner over where the oil had been dripping, then washed it off with some hot water, means I can have a look in a weeks time to check for leakage.

Remove all tools etc from the engine bay, start the engine and check for leaks.

Comments welcome, especially if you found this guide useful.

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