Mini R57 N16 timing for petrol

[keithmerc220]

Excuse me,

As I work on the timing chain, I would appreciate any guidance. The cams are locked, so I removed everything—which I mistakenly believed was the crank—and left the car for a few days to wait for the kit to come.


I was going to tighten the crank bolt today when the crank suddenly spun as I began the initial torque! I either failed to lock the crank properly or accidentally knocked it at some point, so the cams remained locked and never moved.

I'm confused about my next move. Now that I've locked it correctly again and the pistons are all the same height, how can I make sure the time is right and I'm not spinning out of control?

Thank you once more.

[Motoman]

You can only insert the dowel pin into one of the flywheel's holes. You should be good to go if you lock the cams and insert the flywheel pin so that the small handle almost touches the bellhousing. To secure the 18mm socket wrench in place, give it a little wiggle, but be careful not to apply any force. You can tell when the flywheel pin is in a recess rather than a hole because the small handle on the pin is far from touching the surface of the bellhousing. When the flywheel pin is placed, there is one way to turn the crank such that all of the pistons are even. While trying to locate top dead again, I hope you didn't bing any valves.

[keithmerc220]

The dowel slid into the hole with a satisfying thunk, so I'm very sure it's in there now; I appreciate your response.

I didn't feel any resistance or contact with anything, so I'm hoping no valves were hit.

[jennycarlotta]

Will not make contact with valves when cam locks are engaged and camshafts are at an angle where valves are not open sufficiently to touch. By default, when you lock the crank, you should attempt to turn it in both directions. If it only turns in one way, it's about 180 degrees out of whack; a false lock occurs when the crank catches on a ridge on the flywheel.

[keithmerc220]

I will keep it in mind for the next time; I feel like it was probably just a false lock. Is that to say that I was successful in releasing the crank bolt upon startup? It is appreciated.