Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,
What should have been a simple cambelt change has taken up my whole day and I still haven't got it done. First, I got stuck at the first hurdle, removing the wheel! Someone had done the bolts up so tight that nothing would undo them, I tried standing on a breaker bar and a mains rattle gun (which instantly undid the crankshaft pulley bolt to give you an idea). Eventually, I managed to get them off by putting a breaker bar on the bolt then jacking the car with a trolley jack under the end of the bar! Eventually, the weight of the car shifted the bolts enough that I could then stand on the breaker bar to undo them. A rough calculation puts that at about 2000Nm of torque!!!

Anyway, the next steps went very quick, all according to plan, until it came to removing the water pump. I undid the bolts and tried to remove it but it was stuck. I've now tried hammering it with a hammer and a block of wood, hammering it from the side with a hammer and socket extension bar and using freeze spray to try and loosen the join. All efforts have failed to do anything except mash up the pump and deposit metal filings all over the timing cover. So, has anyone got any ideas? It's a 1.8 dual overhead cam vauxhall engine, has anyone done this job before?

Thanks,
James

Changed pumps on a 1.3 and 2.0 litre engines, both single cam, and while they were a bit stuck they came out ok with a bit of timber and a hammer.
If the pumps scrap you could use a bigger hammer?

Alan

Some Vauxhall twin cam 1.6 and 1.8 engines. Water pump change is recommended when timing belt and tensioner are changed (100,000 miles). It was a 'scheduled operation' on my '07 Astra SXi.

After three hours yesterday and three today, I got it out! It put up one massive fight though. I got a large club hammer and a metal pole and hit it repeatedly from all angles, I levered it all around with a crowbar (which pulled the pulley off!) I had the engine supported on a jack so I tried putting a bar under the pump then lowering the jack so it had the weight of the engine on it. After hours of hammering, soaking in WD40, more hammering, more WD40, some prying and some more hammering, it eventually came free!!! Much happiness ensued

After that, the cambelt and water pump change all went well. The belt was quite slack so it's lucky I changed it in time. It runs and idles better now too, presumably due to the slack in the old belt making the timing ever so slightly off.

Next job, rear shocks. I can't see how that can hold any nasty surprises but we'll see!!

Thanks,
JAmes

James
Only just read this post. Congratulations on cracking it eventually. Most car jobs are " only 5 minutes " , yeah right !!
I use Plusgas Dismantling fluid in preference to WD40. I love WD40 for a catch all , water dispersant , lubrication, etc ., etc. ( I bought 5 litres of it when I started my restoration ).
Plusgas is a much thinner engineering dismantling liquid and seeps into minute gaps. Soaked overnight is a good start. During gentle persuasion with the lump of wood and club hammer , you can see very small bubbles appearing at the joins. You know then that things are starting to work. More application of Plusgas and more persuasion generally works.
Bob