Cambelt cover distortion

Can anyone offer some experience with the following please?
MGTF 135
The Cambelt cover that I took off to enable a cam belt replacement appeared to have a bend in it such that when it was placed in position it would either touch and fit at the bottom or the top but not both at the same time.Clearly it could be pushed into place at the bottom but then fitting the securing bolts from the middle up just forced the lower section away from its intended position.

Needless to say in trying to “persuade” it flat it broke into two sections.
Bit of a perishing nuisance really to say the least. Anyhow a new one has been obtained in preference to a used one to avoid the possibility that a used replacement might also be distorted.
The new one has arrived and it appears to be identical to the one I broke in shape/configuration i.e.. not flat such that a seal all around is, in my view, impossible.

Has anyone experienced or noticed this before please and what is normal? And ideally what is the solution? There is no point in returning it if all the others are the same.

I'm probably not going to be able to answer your question but which cambelt cover are we talking about? The top one or the bottom?

Ok, here goes. It is a basic 135 not VVC. I refer to the upper part of the cam belt cover system that is removed to show access to the two cam wheels. It fits around the engine mount and continues to the bottom where it locates around a single nut (but not held in by that nut).
The cover has 5(?) M6 bolts in the upper section.
Rimmer Bros part number LJR104000

When you put the new cover on a flat surface, is it distorted. If not, maybe the back cover is your problem. I know these do have a tendency to break.

The simple answer is “yes”.
At the moment it is “resting” after having a piece of Aluminium bonded to the outside of the broken casing with Araldite. Time will tell how successful that is. It could be 15 seconds, or less, or a successful bond that lasts ages.
When the cure time is up I’ll post some images.
The brand new item from Rimmers has an even more pronounced distortion than the one I broke.
It doesn’t help to see that the “nut” that the bottom is supposed to locate over is presenting corners rather than flats for the locating aspect.
The upper back half or section of this cover does seem to be able to rock a bit and may well be leaning towards the engine and again this doesn’t help.

Here are two images of the new one as received from Rimmers. I propose to contact them on Monday about this.


The gap at the corner will just take a £2 coin unfortunately it fell over before I noticed it when taking the image.

From memory, I think mine is a similar shape, but when the bolts are tightened up it pulls to shape. I know this might be a bit obvious, but nip all the bolts in first and then pull them tight. Sometimes if you tighten as you go, it makes it difficult for the item to take the shape up. I will try and search out my spare cover and see what shape that's in.

I understand what you are saying about “pulling into shape”. I did try that but as you see there is both a twist and bend in the profile.
There are bolts in the top half of that cover section only with none at the bottom. As soon as the top half is pulled up the bottom “kicks away”, at least that was what I could see happening.
Secondly “pulling into shape” was effectively what I was doing by pushing it on the floor when it broke!
Not my best day at the office.

Another example of poor quality manufacturing (like the member in Spain with the new expansion bottle recently..)?

It should not be bent like this. Hearing more examples now of this lax attitude to quality. Return it to the supplier.

It should be flat and the photo on Rimmer bros website certainly shows it to be flat.⁰

You could reshape it flat by using a hot air gun, and holding it flat while it cools.:shrug:

I had a look at my cover and it isn't that flat. Pull the bottom bolt up and clamp the top half, mine fits in place and i suspect as the engine gets hot it more than likely will settle in the correct form. Not great I agree, but it might be a case of working with what you got sadly.

Yesterday, I cut a piece of thin Aluminium sheet and bonded that with Araldite to the outer side of the casing bits.
Always a bit of an unknown trying to stick something to plastics but it does seem to have stuck.
I don’t expect it to last for years so I now have a spare on order from ebay. It can’t be any worse. It is my intention to return the new one with a complaint.

Delbourt wrote:

Yesterday, I cut a piece of thin Aluminium sheet and bonded that with Araldite to the outer side of the casing bits.
Always a bit of an unknown trying to stick something to plastics but it does seem to have stuck.
I don’t expect it to last for years so I now have a spare on order from ebay. It can’t be any worse. It is my intention to return the new one with a complaint.

Quite right. A bodge is not the way to go and it will mean that suppliers care even less about getting quality right.

The US appear to be a nightmare to keep cars on the road that are more than 10 years old - unavailability of new parts, parts not to spec (including parts made by a certain expensive Italian car brand that are far from original spec)..... Old new stock is the best way to go (if available).