Can i leave off the plastic timing cover?
 

My center timing belt cover has a hole cut in it by a failing crank pulley. It also seems to be bent or something, so much that the cover has sort of protruded forward and is somewhat covering the crank pulley to the point that i cannot install an ac belt on the crank pulley. Im planning on replacing the timing belt and crank/cam seals soon, and was wondering if it would hurt anything if i left the center cover off? The side pieces are in good condition and will be reinstalled. Would anyone advise against this? A new center cover with the gaskets is around $90 at subaruparts.com.

I also have a strange feeling that if i install a new cover, The crank pulley will rub on it and eat a hole in it. Is it possible that my aftermaket pulley sits back further than the oem one? its a Perrin pulley. I know others on here have used the same pulley. Has anyone had problems with them?


Evan

I believe SVXFiles has been running without covers for several years with no ill effects
-Bill

As long as you have the underbelly cover in place it would be a very very slight chance that something could fly in there and get caught in between the timing belt and crank pulley and make it jump a tooth. Probably never going to happen. It could I guess, but chances seem slim something could get in there.

Other than the obvious risk of sand/fine particles being more likely to get in to the front main seal I doubt you'll have a problem.

I wouldn't do it ;) but you could probably get away with it.

And, Keep your hands, or any and all hands out of there. :eek:

We have them completely removed on the racer. It doesn't see a lot of mileage in comparison to street cars, but I will probably leave them off of my car next time I remove them for a seal change.

You do have to worry about crap getting in there, but on the other hand it makes it much quicker to work on the front end. Last time I had to pull the waterpump on the racer, I think the whole thing took less then 30 minutes off and on.

When I pull them on my car, I'll most likely keep an old belt and a C-Clamp in the trunk, just in case ;)

FWIW, a lot of the guys that off road older Subaru's leave the covers off. Even with all the mud and water they don't have many issues because of the removed covers.

Thanks for all the replies. I will be leaving it off. Maybe in the future if i have some spare cash, i will purchase a new cover. Right now i just want to get my seals replaced so i can stop leaving puddles of oil everywhere. Thanks alot.

Evan

Moving.

Please post in the appropriate forum. Thanks.