I have now removed all relevant bolts from the valve cover, and would like a hint on how to slide out the cover. The engine is in the frame.
Which side and/or forward do you usually slide/tilt it out towards?
EDIT: NVM, I got it out easy when I took it out left side.
batman wrote on 04/16/17 at 18:45:20:
I'm thinking it goes back to his statement that he "used a large piece of plastic"to lock the gears when torqueing the clutch, and had a real bad time getting out ,It sounds to me like the plastic didn't hold the gears but may have got crushed and slipped between the gears,what this movement could have done to the cam chain and gears isn't clear,in my mind but I think it bares looking into.Is it possible the primary drive gear slid across the crushed plastic one tooth and through the cam timing off?
I am 100% positive that the plastic piece held the gears.
It is a method I usually use and have originally learned from my father who usually employs a similar method. You just have to make sure the material is strong enough to not be squeezed out from between the teeth when you apply force on it, which I can see was not the case.
One of the benefits of using a softer material like plastic as opposed to (soft) metal is that it is less prone to be dropped between the time you put it in place and till you apply some real force on it, as you can "set it" in place by applying a little temporary force/torque on it.
Also... I did not have "a real hard time" getting it out, but I did have to wriggle and pry it a bit of course
The setup I used at the time (This one is staged):