Keith Coman
New Member
Lining up the timing marks in the bell housing on a 4 cylinder is made easy by using a pry-bar on the starter ring gear.
1. Turn the engine until the timing marks just become visible in the inspection port. [Remove the spark plugs and turn the engine on the fan blades - wear garden gloves and "pinch" the fanbelt on the waterpump-generator gap to get traction.]
2. Insert tip of a short prybar via inspection port onto the ring gear. Use the edge of the inspection port as a pivot and gently lever the flywheel around until the timing marks line up. Slight twist to the prybar is all that is needed and gives very fine control.
The same process works with Rover P4's [not the 80] and P5's [with 6 cylinder F head engines]since they use the self-same inspection port and flywheel timing mark design.
Sidebar Note: A Rover engine that has seized due to rusted piston rings can also be freed up using a prybar on the ring gear. Soak the bores in diesel oil [or suitable penetrating oil] for a good long while [e.g. at least a week]. Then take a long prybar [or industrial crow bar] and gently put a bit of pressure on ring gear teeth. All you want is a millimeter or two of movement. Soak some more. Repeat. Small movement. Soak. Repeat. Etc.. Gently. Gently. Free at last! [This worked perfectly with a P4 engine that hadn't turned in 30 odd years in a barn find car recovered from a rotten wooden shed.] Aah the beauty of that inspection port feature!
1. Turn the engine until the timing marks just become visible in the inspection port. [Remove the spark plugs and turn the engine on the fan blades - wear garden gloves and "pinch" the fanbelt on the waterpump-generator gap to get traction.]
2. Insert tip of a short prybar via inspection port onto the ring gear. Use the edge of the inspection port as a pivot and gently lever the flywheel around until the timing marks line up. Slight twist to the prybar is all that is needed and gives very fine control.
The same process works with Rover P4's [not the 80] and P5's [with 6 cylinder F head engines]since they use the self-same inspection port and flywheel timing mark design.
Sidebar Note: A Rover engine that has seized due to rusted piston rings can also be freed up using a prybar on the ring gear. Soak the bores in diesel oil [or suitable penetrating oil] for a good long while [e.g. at least a week]. Then take a long prybar [or industrial crow bar] and gently put a bit of pressure on ring gear teeth. All you want is a millimeter or two of movement. Soak some more. Repeat. Small movement. Soak. Repeat. Etc.. Gently. Gently. Free at last! [This worked perfectly with a P4 engine that hadn't turned in 30 odd years in a barn find car recovered from a rotten wooden shed.] Aah the beauty of that inspection port feature!