Did I ruin my timing cover?

[Steamer]

In my haste to remove the seal and sandblast the timing cover I just found the right size piece of pipe and drove out what I thought was just the seal. I'm thinking that the heavy metal ring wasn't supposed to come out. I did this before my ordered seal came in so I wasn't sure what was seal and what was part of the cover. Did I screw this up? Is there any fixes other then buying another cover?
Steamer

 

[Poser]

In my haste to remove the seal and sandblast the timing cover I just found the right size piece of pipe and drove out what I thought was just the seal. I'm thinking that the heavy metal ring wasn't supposed to come out. I did this before my ordered seal came in so I wasn't sure what was seal and what was part of the cover. Did I screw this up? Is there any fixes other then buying another cover?
Steamer

Welcome.


Yes, that is junk now, or at a very minimum, going to require a lot of work to weld and get seated properly so as to allow the seal to properly seal on the front balancer again.

You should not have a problem finding a front cover out here in the wanted section.

 

[Michael Hanson]

Try welding it first. Mike

 

[Coolerman]

That piece is actually soldered in place. When I powder coated my timing cover, solder actually weeped out from around that ring and dripped in my oven. I had visions of it pouring oil when I started it, but the only oil leaks I have right now seem to be the side cover and the lower timing cover bolts. (I think I left the thread sealant off those bolts...)

It would be difficult to get that aligned correctly again without some kind of a jig.

 

[fj hunter]

my vote ...

if you have good solder/welder skills, go for it. the bolt pattern leaves a small amount of wiggle room.

otherwise, buying a new one will be very simple compared to a low cost but alignment needed fix.

Best blessing to your efforts.

 

[Steamer]

Thanks for responding guys. A dumb mistake on my part. A new one at SOR cost, Wow! $$ Looking at it more closely I see it was indeed soldered in there. I'm handy with a torch so I think I'll give it try and also look for another used cover too. The ring drops in there pretty snug so centering should be easy but squaring it up and setting the depth will take some jigging up like you've mentioned. I was confused about what that ring actully did in there but when I cleeaned it up I noticed that those weren't just rings inside that heavy ring but they are spiraled like threads. I'm guessing the shaft of the crank pulley turning in there works like an auger and moves oil away from the seal. Pretty cool.
Just moments ago I had success getting the flat head plate screws out of there undamaged so I'm feeling good about that.
Thanks again

 

[Poser]

Just moments ago I had success getting the flat head plate screws out of there undamaged so I'm feeling good about that.

Do yourself a favor and replace those three screws with the new Torx fastener that Toyota sells for that application.


Three of- 90149-10001

Makes life a lot easier.

When putting those screws back in, blue locktite is your friend.

Stake the endplate as per the FSM as well.

 

[Steamer]

Poser, thanks for the torx tips. I will order them Monday.
Looks like I may have a used cover in the works so that'll be nice also.