Advice on stuck cam chain...

[jambo]

This weekend's spannering did not go as well as it might have done...

In an effort to get the cams back into the SV engine I had to turn the crank to TDC for the front piston. I had an accomplice hold the rear cam chain taught, I was holding the front cam chain taught, turning the crank with a 17mm socket and peering at the timing marks through the inspection hole with a torch. Apparently this was too much for my brain and the crank stopped turning.

Not wanting to make a bad situation worse I didn't haul on the crank like a demented monkey, but peered around until I found that the top run of the front cam chain had got enough slack in it to get pulled down into the cam chain gear and thus wedged solid.

Trying to turn the crank back the other way and pulling on the cam chain does not seem to want to free it.

From the Haynes manual it looks like I may now have to pull the crank case side off, remove the generator & starter motor gear to see the bottom cam gear and try to free it from there. I will then have to inspect the cam chain very carefully to see if I've stuffed it I guess.

So, any advice on how to do this without stuffing it further or how to easily free it up? While I feel like a tit I'm also quite convinced I'm not the first person to manage this....

Jambo

[jambo]

Bump, any thoughts? To remove the guides I need to take the head off, to get access to the gear I need, amongst other things a rotor puller...

[northwind]

I had the same thing happen to an engine I was breaking, but i just muscled it slightly- I wasn't bothered by what happened to the cam chain etc, though it didn't need a lot of abuse and didn't show any damage.

[jambo]

Cheers Andy, I might give that a go given the sizeable amount of work in getting the cam chain changed. I'd be worried that the chain was damaged though. Maybe I'm being too paranoid....


Jambo