I've read all these VTC guides and they all say "... ok now just take off the VTC..." and there I thought it would be as simple as it sounds.

Now all the covers are off, tensioner is off, the VTC bolt is out, white-out is ubiquitous, and I am totally lost on how the VTC is removed from its nest.

What's the next step to pry this sucker off? Please help restore my sanity.

 

Tap lightly on the back of it[sprocket side] with a hammer..swap sides when tapping so you don't get the vtc in a bind...

 

use a hydraulic press.
safer that way.

 

so thats the special tool you have to use?... because i have a guy here in town that has done a couple VTC replacements and he WONT do it unless i can get him the tool needed... any specifics?...

 

I had the same problem and found that plenty of creative swearing didn't help, but made me feel OH so much better. I assume that you're having problems getting the VTC unentangled from the chain. What I found worked was to use a friend, with two large open end wrenches (22 or 24mm?) on the hexagonal sections of the cam shafts to move them slightly (don't force, they'll move against the valve springs a small amount) to get some slack from the chain, so you can unhook the VTC and get it out. If you feel any resistance to the cam rotation that's not just spring force, don't force it or you'll bend a valve. I used this technique also to get them back in the chain after rebuilding.

 

The hammer suggestion made me realize that its not on very tightly or deeply. I took a socket extension, wedged it between the VTC and the wall next to it, and it came right off.

Prior to this I was thinking that the chain had to be removed, which wasn’t fathomable without taking apart a lot more stuff.

To actually open and close the VTC I used a small vise and it worked very well. The old spring was short and less stiff, as predicted and shown by others.

When I do the rear one later, I'd like to find something other than whiteout for marking because it started to rub off eventually.

 

When I did mine I used a sharp scribe to make a small, but visible scratch in the chain and VTC to line it up. This won't wash off.

 

I use a paint pen..Works great...

 

i was thinking too much paint could come off and clog an oil port or something

 

nah. you don't use much paint at all on it.

I also used a scribe, but you gotta have a very hard, sharp tool. the steel on those VTCs is very hard, so it's tough to scratch.

 

Yes I tried using a paint but it's hard to get to stick to the oily parts and then when I started to clean them I realized that the paint was washing off also. Then I took a diamond tip scribe and scratched them.

 

I'll look through my diamond collection then to see which I prefer to use.

 

These diamond tip scribes go for $9. If you have any $9 diamonds in your collection this is a good use for them;-).

 

The trick is to hit them with a quirt of brake cleaner and remove the oil BEFORE you use the paint pen. once the paint dries, it'll take YEARS to come off.

 

10 blehmco's