Cam Tower Removal Help!

[Brozoar]

So, I'm trying to switch out my cam tower gasket, right? Easy enough, except the PO seems to have been a sadistic saboteur because the upper hex bolts (the six 6mm ones behind the plugs) are absolutely impossible to get off.

I sawed the top off my 6mm allen wrench earlier, popped it in a 1/4" drive 6mm socket, popped on a 1/4" to 3/8" drive converter, and cranked on the thing with an 11" wrench. Mind you, my sockets were kinda cheap, but the top of the converter practically melted and totally stripped inside the ass end of my 6mm socket.

Keep in mind this is after soaking those six bolts in PB and WD-40 for days and days, hammering all around to wake them up, etc. (It's running into my oil, I know, but I'll change it...) So tonight, begrudgingly, I'm gonna borrow a buddy's car and go buy a set of proper 3/4" long hex sockets, but worst-case scenario is a) I can't get the bolts out even still, or b) the tops of the remaining three 6mm bolts just sheer off... and I still can't get them out.

Given that this worst-case scenario comes to pass, what's my course of action? Those bolts are damn near impossible to get to. And is my anger and frustration at the previous owner righteous? It's a friggin' paper gasket, no way those bolts should be on so tight.

[AA_Ezra]

I nice cold chisel or punch that will acutally fit inside the middle of the bolt works very well. if you'res is still that bad after soaking for that long you're going to have to smak it pretty good The long hex sockets can be had at Kragen/orielies. and i have seen them at autozone too. THey have a lifetime warrenty so if one breaks you can get a new one, that is assuming that they are closer to you then another place that may have the tools.

After that the only thing you can do is probly drill them out using a drill bit that is the same size or better yet bigger than the bolt threads so that when you drill you will be able to snap the top of the hex head clean off.

This is a worst and last case scenario tho. Putting grease on the tip of the drill bit to keep the shavings from dropping anywhere

[John_AZ]

Yup ^

A tip from George at 944 Ecology Porsche Parts.

"Just drill the head off" (and clean up the mess)

Don't forget to put a steel plate under the cam housing before you lift it or the lifters will bounce on the ground. Porsche says to keep them in the same holes.
Check for soft lifters--now--- Get good used if necessary.

GL
John

[Techno Duck]

It is very important to unbolt the cam tower in sequence just like if you were torquing it down. The pressure from the lifters and valve springs pushing up on the cam tower will make getting the bolts out very difficult if they are not loosened a little at a time. So if you have already removed any of the bolts, thread them all back in and tighten them down just enough to keep the cam tower seated fully against the head, then try again on those top 6. Hammer the allen head socket into the bolt head to make sure its seated and also to help wake the bolt up.

These bolts are always impossibly tight even though they are torqued to 15ft-lbs. I took my cam tower off last week (last removed probably 15k miles ago..and no gorillas torqued it down, it was done correctly) and its always a pucker moment when you see the allen head twisting as you apply torque on the ratchet..they always break loose with a pretty loud snap also.

Also lay a garbage bag down right under the headers because a bunch of oil will drip out when you get the cam tower off.

[Brozoar]

Originally Posted by Techno Duck

These bolts are always impossibly tight even though they are torqued to 15ft-lbs. I took my cam tower off last week (last removed probably 15k miles ago..and no gorillas torqued it down, it was done correctly) and its always a pucker moment when you see the allen head twisting as you apply torque on the ratchet..they always break loose with a pretty loud snap also.

^^Yeah I think the snap just scared me out of really torquing as much as I needed to.

Went to Harbor Freight (never been there before - LOVE it), bought the sockets and they popped right out with a little elbow grease.

I actually couldn't find anything about the tightening-down sequence on CG; anyone have a link?

[Techno Duck]

There is no factory supplied method, but you should start from the inside and work your way out in the typical crisscross pattern.

[strath44]

My cam tower bolts were a nightmare in the end best advice I got was from my dad...........always tighten old bolts before you untighten................just a fraction, works every time try it, works better than hammering them etc to "wake them up"!

[Brozoar]

That's good thinking; I tried that on a handful of 'em, wasn't sure it was doing anything.

Well I finally got my cam tower off earlier today. Thanks a lot for the suggestions everyone; it all seems like common sense in retrospect, but it really helped. Unfortunately the tower was painted (poorly) so I've got some sanding to do, and keeping paint flakes from getting in my oil was a trick.

I'm polishing up the Porsche name on the surface; ought to look sweeeeeeet when I'm done.

[Brozoar]

I've been busy as all hell lately, but I finally got the cam tower cleaned up and put back on the head, with a new gasket. Only trouble is I cannot now rotate the camshaft by hand at all! I know you're not supposed to do that on account of you might damage the valves, but the camshaft is a little less than one tooth off from TDC, hence why I've been trying.

Could I have done something wrong during installation? My big fear is that somehow the lifters were kind of torqued onto the springs somehow(?) so they're essentially stuck in place. I'm too terrified to start it until I know what's going on. Anyone had this before? Is it just too much oil drained out of the tower while I had it off?

Help.

[Brozoar]

Kay on second thought, the idea that my lifters are somehow torqued awkwardly onto the springs is next to impossible. So I thought maybe my canshaft was just off enough that as I was bolting the tower on, I was basically pushing the valves to chomp right down onto the pistons, but it seems rather unlikely that the camshaft wouldn't instead just get pushed back to TDC (not to mention the fact that I don't think it was far off enough).

So I can rule out some catastrophic mishap like that (I hope), but then... what's up with it? Should I just put the belt back on and see if that turns it? Could it be a lack of oil around the valves and springs? The tower was off for quite a while...

Any suggestions at all would seriously make my day.

[AA_Ezra]

I don't think you are supposed to be able crank it by hand you will even have force if you use a wrench. IF it's at TDC I would imagen if you were to move it in either direction you would have to force one of the valves to open

[Brozoar]

You know what?... You might be right. I had thought before that I turned the engine over by hand with the cam sprocket still on the belt, but I'm misremembering; it wasn't until after I took the tower off that I could turn over the crankshaft by hand.

Whew! What a relief! :P

Well, while I'm at it I have a few other questions. Namely, the approx. one-inch thick plastic hose coming right out of the coolant reservoir cap - it came off at some point when I was taking out my alternator. What does that lead to?

Also, is there a picture somewhere showing the wire hookups for the alternator? Like where the red and blue wires are bolted onto what posts? I'm having trouble remembering.

Thanks all.

[AA_Ezra]

Originally Posted by Brozoar

You know what?... You might be right. I had thought before that I turned the engine over by hand with the cam sprocket still on the belt, but I'm misremembering; it wasn't until after I took the tower off that I could turn over the crankshaft by hand.

Whew! What a relief! :P

Well, while I'm at it I have a few other questions. Namely, the approx. one-inch thick plastic hose coming right out of the coolant reservoir cap - it came off at some point when I was taking out my alternator. What does that lead to?

Also, is there a picture somewhere showing the wire hookups for the alternator? Like where the red and blue wires are bolted onto what posts? I'm having trouble remembering.

Thanks all.

OK the resevoir tank only had 2 lines. A very thin one that is about the thickness of a pinky finger (1/2inch max). The second hose you speak of comes out the bottom of that tank and connects to the upper part of the radiator. Im sure you will remember once you see the conection.

Alternator: If i remember correctly there are only 2 connections one RED wire and the other is BLUE. Red wire is like about an 8 guage wire ( about the thickness of a cam bolt) and it connect to the thickest threaded bolt with a nut.

The little blue guy connects to a post that is also threaded but it has the worlds smallest nut 6mm i think. Hopefully you threaded the nuts back once removing the cables?


IN the picture the positive Red wire goes on the B+ symbol and the Blue wire goes on the Spade connection on the picture but you're should just be a threaded bolt and nut. and that little blue wire connection should have a d+(-) symbol i think

[Brozoar]

Actually I believe mine has another red jumper that spans between two of the posts there. I think one of them is the B+ post that the battery connects right to. I feel like the Hayne's manual ought to say something about this... All I could find on it was this pic from Lindsey Racing regarding the wiring on a 50A racing alternator:


As for the coolant hose, supposing I haven't looked at it in a while and I meant the pinky-sized hose out of the cap? :-D

[Brozoar]

Kay, so I was mistaken; it definitely is the pinky-sized hose coming out of the reservoir cap. What's that one go to?

...bump?

[kfray]

Should the reservoir over pressurize the cap will open and the black hose will dump the over pressure near the bottom of the engine bay.

[Brozoar]

Ohhh kay gotcha, that makes sense. So I can just trail it wherever seems best I guess then.

Thanks. About to start her up!!

[Brozoar]

Started it up, drove it around the block, it seems to be doing okay.

Only thing is... the exhaust manifold started smoking (white) and smelling something fierce. I'm like 99% sure this is just from oil I splashed onto the manifold when I had the cam tower off, and that if I run it long enough it should go away, but I was too paranoid to test my hypothesis before. So I wanted some confirmation from someone this has maybe happened to before?

Also, idle dropped off after about a minute or two; down from 800-900 to around 600-700. Thought it might be misfiring, so I depressed the gas pedal just a bit and didn't notice any sputtering - brand new plugs, so it's not that. Any guesses??