Cleaning Cam Towers - Blast or not to Blast
 

Can you bead blast the cam towers? I've seen a few pictures of cam towers that look like they were blasted. I've always had the idea you could not do that because of the oil line passage.

I can do the manual method, but.....

don't bead blast. there's no way to be sure you got all the glass bead out of the oil passages.

I cleaned mine with a brush and some berryman chem dip, and it glows. that stuff is highly toxic though, I'm sure it took years off my life...but hey, those are the later years and they suck anyway.

and my ultimate parts cleaning tip...send your wife out for a few hours, hook your garden hose up to the hot water spigot for your clothes washer and run it outside. after you give your parts the once over with the solvent and brush, hose them off with hot water. your parts will glow!

oh...if you have an attached garage don't use the berryman chem dip in it, it'll stink up your whole house, and your wife will kick your a$$. the stuff is rank. best cleaner out there, but man...

be sure to wear really heavy duty gloves with that stuff, or your hands will stink for a week.

Thanks for the tip! I never thought about the hot water hook up behind the washer!!!

I used Mrs. Z's dishwasher. The parts came out sparkly-clean.
And the welts on the side of my head are just a memory now.

I considered using mama's dishwasher, my only fear is that I'd be permanently disfigured.

I've got a hot water faucet outside so now all I need is to find this Berrymans chem dip. Where do you guys get it?
-Chris

No ammount of dirt, no matter how bad, can do as much damage as leftover glass beads. and they stick to the metal, so its almost impossible to get all of them off. Good advise is never use a bead blaster.

As to the cam tower, it MAY be possible to successfully bead blast and totally dissemble and clean, but not likely. As to the case-- NEVER NEVER NEVER under ANY circumstance, bead blast a case.

I get the chem dip at checker, kragen, shucks, pep boys, auto zone type parts stores.

It comes in a 1 gallon can with a dip basket inside.

the solvent is kinda slimy and a yellowish green color. it is aweful stuff, but it cleans better than any solvent I've ever used.

Hard to beat traditional parts cleaning fluid (petroleum based) and a parts washer with pump. Advanced, Napa and Granger sell the fluid in 5 gallon cans. Lots of places sell small parts wasers fairly inexpensively.

JP

Here ya go, If you pull the plugs out of both ends of the housing that hold the spray bar- which you should be doing in any event although most people dont for whatever reason- and remove the spray bar, and also knock the steel cap at the other end of the cam bearing bore out, you can glass bead the housings, you just have to be sure to thoroughly clean it out afterwards. If you are willing to spend the time, it is alright to do.

Thanks Christian,
I knew some folks had blasted their cam housings. For the life of me, I could not understand why or how they did it knowing the possible end result. I see now it CAN be dissassembled and done. The question now is... do I want to spend the time to disassemble. The scotch brite pad/cleaner-solvent method does take a bit of time as well!

Christian, what is the correct way to pull those plugs to remove the spray bar?

Problem with removing the plugs. You have to drill them out, that ruins them. SO how do you get new ones? Well its quite simple, you make them, custom, on your lathe. about 0.001 interference fit. IF you can't do this step, don't remove them.

PS its really no big deal. Its about as simple as simple can go for a machine shop.

Thanks Jack. Looks like a trip to the machine shop then.

Castrol Super Clean in the purple spray bottle. That stuff rocks and get aluminum shining new. It sort of etches the surface. Make sure you rinse well. It made me a beliver. Get it at Pep Boys.

Ingo

Hi Jack,
Do you mean thus plugs are No Longer Available? The last time I bought any was a couple of years ago. Do I need to get some copies made before I use up my "stock" ?
-Chris


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No need to make them. They are available from Porsche. I bought mine from the local stealer, in stock.

Does Pelican Parts stock these items? Anyone?

To remove the plugs drill the proper size hole to be able to thread a 6X1.0 tap into it and then use a 6mm bolt and a slide hammer to pull them out. You can have new plugs made, but they are available from Porsceh fairly cheap, so I would jsut get those.

Yes,

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