cam gear covers or no?

[420Adriver]

ok i installed my light weight inderdrive pully and i left the cam covers off so in the future when i put light weight cam gears on my car i wouldnt have to redo the process of taking off my passenger wheel removing the pully again etc, etc, well recently ive read a few threads where people said that removing the cam gear cover is stupid and that people mostly do it for looks or for show, and that if a tiny pebble get in there it good mess alot of stuff up, well my question is that is this true? i mean if there adjustable cam gears how are you supposed to adjust them w/o the timing belt cover off? i see alot of people with 4g63 and 420a's that leave them off so are they all asking for it then? and should i put my cover back on because it kind of has me worried and i dont want my engine to mess up

 

[weith1111]

Yes. Very bad idea. The covers were put there for a reason.

 

[Icyshadowz]

As far as I know it shouldnt hurt it. Like you said alot of people do it. Mine is off to I havent had a problem but i could be wrong!

 

[JayRolla]

Yes put it back on. One little rock or something can get up in there and bam bent valves. Not a good idea to keep them off. Just take the cover off when you want to adjust them. Its only a few bolts

P.S. It only will hurt your motor if a something jumps your timing. Very bad idea

 

[Icyshadowz]

Yes put it back on. One little rock or something can get up in there and bam bent valves. Not a good idea to keep them off. Just take the cover off when you want to adjust them. Its only a few bolts

P.S. It only will hurt your motor if a something jumps your timing. Very bad idea

OK, I guess I was wrong then but unlike you mine came with out it so i cant just put it back on i have to deal untill i can get one good luck!

 

[DarthBulk]

Has anyone actually had this happen to them? I am curious if anyone knows for a fact that their engine got wrecked because they didn't have the cam gear cover on. I have a G4CS and my cam gear cover no longer fits.

 

[weith1111]

Has anyone actually had this happen to them? I am curious if anyone knows for a fact that their engine got wrecked because they didn't have the cam gear cover on. I have a G4CS and my cam gear cover no longer fits.

I only recall one incident, where something else came loose in the engine bay (not a rock or debris) and made someone's life hell.

I had no cover for awhile because I broke mine, and when I looked at the gears one time, there was a decent gash/chunk missing near the teeth on one of them. No idea how it happened or what it was, but needless to say, I called around and found a cover ASAP.

Here's the best advice you can get on this subject:

No one is looking at your cam gears while the hood is down. Think about it. If you need to be a ricer and have your cam gears showing off, take the cover off when you park it and pop the hood. And if you "need to adjust them," you are going to be doing it while the car is on a dyno. Again, take the cover off while you are tuning, but put it back on for the ride home.

 

[DarthBulk]

Interesting. I had not heard of anyone having problems because the cam gear cover was off. As I stated earlier, I have a G4CS and with that block, the cam gear cover bolt holes no longer line up, so I can't put the cover on. I don't do it to show off my pretty AEM cam gears . I guess I can look for a way to put it on, for peace of mind.

And for the original poster, if you have a cam gear cover that fits, I would also recommend putting it on. There's no point in taking the risk of damaging your engine.

 

[TSIMonsteR]

I agree with ^^^

 

[weith1111]

Interesting. I had not heard of anyone having problems because the cam gear cover was off. As I stated earlier, I have a G4CS and with that block, the cam gear cover bolt holes no longer line up, so I can't put the cover on. I don't do it to show off my pretty AEM cam gears . I guess I can look for a way to put it on, for peace of mind.

Obviously you have a particular situation that doesn't apply to 99.99% of others running without the cover.

Drill some new holes? I'd find a way to put it on, to put something on.

This is on par with no cover on the positive terminal of the battery, no hood pins on carbon fiber hoods, etc. There are thousands of people running their cars like this, but we've all read about hoods flying up and wrecking windshields at 60mph on the freeway and engine fires that totalled cars, so it happens to SOMEONE. Why would you take the chance it could be you?

In response to "I haven't heard of it happening"...just because you don't read it on an internet forum doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There is tons of misinformation on the internet. Hell, 90% of people think that EVERY 7 bolt gets crankwalk.

It's a bad idea, and no one should recommend taking/leaving it off, so I suggest putting it back on, and if you are like DarthBulk, I suggest finding a way to fab something up to cover up the timing belt, as much as possible. Post the question in the stroker forum, someone's gotta have a good idea.

 

[wret]

So let me get this straight. You found another thread where this was discussed. You read that it was advised (by an expert) that the reason for the cover was to protect the belt from foreign object damage, to which it is particulary sensitive, and you started a new thread for another opinion?

mkay...Yeah, sure, go ahead and leave it off. Probably nothing will happen.