i like the idea, but are you sure - less than an hour??

if you have boxed steel, wood, the bolts needed, and a drill press...........yes. i could make this in an hour if i had the head in front of me, although i DO do custom stuff for a living..........maybee 2 hours:D

Someone else suggested wrapping the valve with rope - I thought that was an excellent idea because it would evenly support the valve and certainly wouldn't damage it. I'm not sure how I would be able to compress the valve so that it could be opened, when it comes back from the machine shop though...

-Wayne

Wayne: How long would you need the tool for? (If overnight shipping was included.)

if you want to simply open the valves to take the pressure off of the cam you can use the 2 popsicle sticks with a third in between (like a door shim in your house) to open them a hair more to take all the pressure off of the cam. i would use a stick on 2 sides of the valve though to keep from bending them under the pressure.

yeah, i was thinking along those lines.

how about some thin wooden (or some other suitably soft material) "wedges" with groves (for the valve stems), open the valve, pop in the wedge, do them all then remove the cam.

I think the rope is going to work - I got some today, but it's too thin - I'll go get some thicker rope tomorrow...

-Wayne

Wayne, I can get some telfon sheeting used on the bottoms of airboats in Lousiana. I have some about 3/8's thick and can get some thinner. It wouldn't hurt the valves, can be shaped to any size or shape by cutting or sanding. I can send you some if you would like to try it. My friend with an airboat business throws away large sheets of it when he replaces with new.

Rough drawing I know, but something like this could be made from a piece of teflon sheeting. handle on one end to ease installation and removal, the other end cut for the valve stem and tapered to slide under the valve. Teflon is soft enough to prevent scratching, doesn't compress easily so it will hold the valve open, and slippery enough to pull out when you're done. Just a thought

I've got multiple sizes of rope right now - I'm going to try relieving the tension tonite...

-Wayne

Take one bolt out. Find out the thread size and pitch. Get enough bolts, nuts and washers to replace the existing cam tower bolts, but make sure that the bolts are about 3 times the actual length of the existing bolts. Then replace the existing bolts with a bolt which has a nut and washer threaded on it. After the new bolt has been installed, tighten down the nut until it holds the cam tower in place. Do this for all the bolts in the head. Then loosen the bolts 1/2 turn at a time. This will result in the pressure being released evenly.

Clay Perrine

Got it out - the studs are long enough to account for the total valve lift. See here:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/101-projects-discussion-forum-bmw-3-series/93628-camshaft-removal-results.html

-Wayne

:rolleyes:

no science required then, well done;)