SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain, finally

Cleaning is not over yet, I still have to clean the engine and gearbox, of course, before starting the timing chain work, which was the initial goal of this long operation, remember 😉

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After cleaning the front unit, I do some detail work by cleaning and greasing the gearbox command lever

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I remove the starter to do a better cleaning and to inspect it

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Then I close the engine before using a lot of degreaser

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And it begins to look clean

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More than ten hours to get this result

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It begins to look nice, I like it like that

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A true artistic picture, with the sun 😉

Now that everything is clean and I have all the required parts (I hope), I call my mechanic and his “assistant”, they are among the very rare ones to work on this kind of engine in the Montreal area. We are fortunate to have them ant I met them thanks to the VEA club.

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Let’s go . They start by removing the secondary chains

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The goal is to disengage the secondary shaft…

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… to remove the primary chain, which cannot be opened

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Installing the new chain is quite fast. This is an IWIS chain, thanks to Laurent for delivering it to me

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The tensioner and limiter are also replaced. The oil pump shaft still has to be replaced

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Then everything has to be put back together. A camshaft setting is required because they are not any more at their exact good position

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After tensioning the secondary chains, specific gages and tools are required to do a fine tuning

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Camshaft markings are here to confirm each position but they are rough positions only…

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… gages are the only ones to tell the truth

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So here am I with a timing assembly supposed to be ready for a lot of happy kilometers. Cool!!

Having two mechanics with me, that’s an opportunity to replace the clutch disc and pusher. I didn’t order the pressure plate because this is a heavy item and shipping fees would be tremendous. But guess what? I had to order this item, of course 😉

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Even before removing the gearbox from the engine, Dominique had a quick look and told me that the disc doesn’t look nice. After removal, its bad shape is confirmed

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The pressure plate is burnt and marked

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On this picture, especially on the right, we can see a damaged circular zone, in the middle of the usable surface

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The flywheel also suffered

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Some cleaning has to be done on the gearbox. I’m tired to clean 😉

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The pusher will be replaced by the “new” type that is maintained by two different “staples” instead of the single and original one here

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While waiting for the pressure plate, I prepare to close the timing cover. Here the water pump inside gasket

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On the outside, I install the first part of the ceramic gasket between the cover and turbine

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This is now time to close

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Here is a progress, but I should have reached this step a long time ago!

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The engine is clean, both shaft gaskets have been replaced, the lower bearing will also be replaced

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The gearbox is almost clean, I could not do better, my new degreaser product is I think less powerful than the one I used previously

It was time to do something for the clutch and it was the good time to have that bad surprise, even if it’s of course very frustrating. The only problem is that I start to be close to the two events I wanted to take part with this car, on June 7 and 20. I think this is already too late for June 7, but I hope to be ready for the annual Citroen “Rendezvous” in Saratoga Springs on June 20.

Claude and Dominique left with my two SM’s flywheel, to have them surfaced. On my side, I try to find a pressure plate as fast as I can. When these parts will be ready, we’ll put the gearbox back on the engine.

When putting the timing cover back on the engine, I had another bad surprise: the water pump turbine is damaged! In fact this is my mistake, I damaged it when I drilled and taped the pump cover. I obviously went too deep. One more part to order, but I’m happy I see that now.

While waiting for these parts, I of course have things to do.