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MG MG Y Type - Welch plug/oil seal, rear of camshaft.

Further to recent posts about damaged oil pump shaft and camshaft gear, I can report that the replacement of parts has begun, with the front cam bearing going in smoothly, plus new centre bearing and new camshaft. BUT - keeping in mind this is with the engine in situ - while peering under the block to carefully instal the camshaft, I checked the location of the welch plug/oil seal at the rear of the camshaft - only to find it was out of true, and, scarily, could be pushed into place with a bit of sideways pressure from a long handled screwdriver. SO - I'm guessing the advice from everyone who's "been there" will be to go the whole hog, separate the engine, remove it, fix the welch plug properly, and reinstall. I don't see any way around it, because there surely needs to be a good tight fit on the plug. Just want to make sure there's no other "quick fix" before I take the plunge!
Thanks Willy and others as always.
John.
J P Hall

That needs to be "oil tight" - no shortcuts - engine out.

Tony
A L SLATTERY

Crikey John, you're not having a very lucky run-
Out she comes
And
Related to this, did you fit the circlip to the rear end of your new cam---It's not 100% esential if you haven't, as long as you know it's not there, and take care fitting your camshaft sprocket---The circlip is there to prevent the camshaft pushing too far back during engine assembly and pushing that plug out the back--If you haven't fitted it just be aware and support the cam while fitting the sprocket-
Also carefully read your w/shop manual fitting the timing chain, The marked links aren't half a chain apart ,there's more links one one side than the other so just be aware and have a count up

willy
William Revit

John,

With all due respects to you, gurus Tony and the incomparable Willy Revit:

With your engine is in situ, how did you access the cam welch plug at the back of the engine block if the tranny is in place? Aren't the clutch/pressure plate/flywheel in the way? Am I missing something from your previous post?

Could you somehow have confused the welch plug for the cooling system at the rear of the block with that for the camshaft?

BTW, I am currently in the process of finally tearing down XPAG2940, the original engine fitted to TC2482. I had swapped it out some 30 years ago with XPEG2350.

The rod bearings were pock marked like the craters of the moon, and the top compression ring on cylinders 1 & 2 came out in numerous small pieces! The camshaft is severely pitted. The cylinders have been fitted with dry liners at +0.060 overbore and the head milled to a depth of 73mm. I believe the crank has been turned to -0.30/40 on the mains and rod journals. All in all, a very tired original engine, last seeing attention in the 1960's.

I dread what crack testing/magnafluxing will reveal. It may become a static exhibition piece.

Octagonally,

Rocky
Rodney C "Rocky" von Dullen

Hi Rocky,
Good question on the camshaft plug, I took it that John was poking a screwdriver through the rear bearing tunnel from inside and could move the plug like that , but yeah ,interesting why you'd be doing that when you think about it-
Sounds like your engine has done a lap or two but then ,done in the 60's he's done ok---he'll fix
Cheers
willy
William Revit

Sorry gentlemen - I should have made it clearer that the sump is off, so I was grovelling underneath to instal the camshaft (successfully), when I checked up behind the camshaft to make sure the core plug looked good. You know the rest of the story.
Overseas (New York) family leaving Tuesday, whereupon I shall be found removing engine & gearbox.
Thanks for the advice all, I'll keep in touch.
Tell you what, Willy, by the time I've sorted this out I'll be better able to tackle a full XPAG strip & rebuild, which I've always wanted to have a go at!
John.


J P Hall

John
Not sure at all how far your restoration has progressed but if all the interior is in and you don't want to disturb it all you 'can' remove the engine without having to remove all the interior stuff to get the gearbox out-
If you've got the front engine mount off and the front pully off you can drop the front of the engine down enough to get at the top bellhousing bolts, support the bellhousing/gearbox with a jack to keep it square to the engine though so you don't bend the clutch plate, then gradually lift the engine while jacking the g'box to keep it all square untill you get to a position high enough to just slip the engine forward off the box
Bit fiddly getting it lined up going back in and leave that front pully off till it's all sitting in----

Just depends how comfortable you'd feel going that way but it 's doable if you didn't want to bother pulling the interior apart

willy
William Revit

Thank you Willy - in fact the interior trim is stored indoors, all done and ready to instal. So it's not too bad - gearbox cover out, release gearbox mounting pin, separate drive shaft, undo front engine mounts, and away we go. I'm hoping not to have to put the sump back on, just sit and stabilize the assembly on wooden beams on the floor; undo bellhousing, separate tranny enough to access and replace the core plug. While everything us out, good opportunity to finish camshaft instal, secure bearing dowel pins, and anything else I can think if before I put it all back together ... FOR THE LAST TIME ...!
John.
J P Hall

All good - have fun
William Revit

So to update: the core plug finally turned up and was fitted; flywheel issue resolved as described in separate post; much cleaning of threads while waiting, and now I'm hoping for a clear run as I reassemble everything to get back to where I was 4 weeks ago.
Once again I've learned a lot with the help of this forum, and I hope these archives help others.
Onward and upward!
John.
J P Hall

This thread was discussed between 22/07/2022 and 10/08/2022

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