90 OFH Replacement

[Boomdeeze]

Long story short I just finished my three year build and was turning the car over to prime it and found my OFH is cracked at the oil pressure sensor port. I bought this used and obviously the seller did not disclose this. I bought a new one from JNZ and waiting for it to arrive.

Now to my question: I am well aware of how to properly replace the housing but I am wondering if anyone see a draw back to filling a 1/2" hole in the timing cover to remove the bolt under it and then using a rubber plug to fill it after the swap is done? I have the kiggly adapter for the 2g auto on a 6 bolt which moved the engine closer to the driver side and taking everything off over there is even a larger pain than before. So yes I know the proper way is to loosen the timing cover but it is so much harder with that kiggly spacer installed.

 

[bigbird94]

You can remove one or timing cover bolts, pull the cover back and access the 4th bolt with a wrench, not the proper way but I've done it.

 

[Smilinjay]

I second removing the timing cover bolts and using a wrench for the last bolt on the ofh. Worked fine for me.

 

[Boomdeeze]

Can you do that without taking the harmonic balancer off?

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/oil-filter-housing-replacement.455540/

 

[Boomdeeze]

Ok so I am wondering if anyone sees a negative to drilling a 1/2" hole to remove the bolt rather than removing the cover. My mind is made up on how I will do it unless someone happens to mention a negative that changes my mind. Yes I have searched and the only negative I see are people saying "debris can get in then". I will plug the hole with a rubber plug so that is not a problem. It is a tight fit on that side with the kiggly spacer installed! No room to "flex" the cover as it will hit the driver side wall.

 

[bigbird94]

Did you read my post? All you need to do is pull 2 timing cover pull bolts by the ofh, pull the cover toward you and boom there's the bolt you need to loosen. I changed my ofh last year and it took about 5 minutes to remove.

 

[henrysan]

I Switched to a forward facing filter housing after my 1991 sandwich cooler blew out, I did not have to remove anything, just used an offset wrench to get the one bolt after gently prying the timing cover out of the way.