I just installed my AEM tru time 5 bolt cam gears, and the OEM cam gear cover wont fit back on. it's off right now, but i was wondering if there are any aftermarket covers that would fit with these cam gears?

 

If you go to the Vishnu site and look through the cam gear installation they
will show you what to grind away on the cover. When I did mine there was a
good write up. Please do not run your car on the road with out that cover
if you pick up a small rock or stick in the timing belt it could jump time.
If it does it would be catastrophic .

 

yeah i already ground all of that extra plastic off and it still rubs.....anything else?

 

you have to cut a hole out for each gear them put the cover back on... I will have to look for my camera if you would like to see a picture..

 

if its not too much trouble, a picture would be great..thanks

 

Spray some white paint on the inside of the cover and look for where it
is touching . Keep relieving in those areas ,the cover is fairly thick.
When paint stayes on you are done,clean the paint off with some
solvents let air drie reinstall cover.

 

just run with the cover off show off them cam gears

 

how unsafe is it to run without the cover? i never wanted to run without it, but after my gear install, i couldn't cover them up.

 

I installed AEM cam gears a week ago. When I picked up the car from the shop, they handed me the cam cover and told me that it wouldn't go back on without modification. They showed me the concentric circles to either cut out or grind down and told me that I could run without it if I wanted. I didn't feel comfortable with that at all (especially since I have mice in my garage that like to fill up my spark plug wells with bird seed), so the first thing I did was cut off those concentric circles (but I didn't cut holes) and reinstall the cover. I sprayed a light coat of paint on the inside of the cover to check clearance didn't see any problem after some brief idling. Well, after reading this I was worried so I just pulled the cover after 200+ miles and there is still not a mark on the white paint inside the cover. I used a straight edge razor blade to remove the circles. What cover mod did you do that didn't solve the clearance? What is hitting the cover exactly?

 

we grinded away those circles on the inside, and when we tried to put it back on we could tell it was rubbing...

 

That's odd. I'm sure that mine isn't rubbing. I guess you could try shimming the cover.

 

I would say it's not very safe at all. One stray rock and ur screwed. I read an article in sport compact car and they did a cam gear install of an EVO. They ran with the cover off, but recommended not doing this. As cool as it looks, just think about the consequences. IMO, definitely put the cover on!

 

Although I'm very much in the camp of wanting the cover to stay on, in reality it would probably be fine without it. The accessory belt is right there in the open under the timing cover. I'm guessing that the reason for cover has more to do with safety under the hood. But that's just a guess.

 

If yourun without the cover make sure you zip tie the power steering hose out of harms way. It will rub on the timing belt if not careful.

 

I used to be in Product Engineering at Mitsubishi.
The cover is to stop stones etc getting caught by the belt as someone said before and resulting in jumping or breaking the belt. I'm not 100% certain about the 4 cyl engine, but in Mitsu's V6 engines, the valves hit pistons if the timing belt breaks. BiiiGGG problem!
We had many cases of severely damaged engines due to running with the cover off.
Worth the time to get a cover of some sort on IMHO