Cam Gear Removal

[mazdaverx7]

Looking for some tips on removing the camshaft gear. I want to replace all of the seals on the cam box as it looks as though its leaking in the front behind the cam gear. I removed the 8mm bolt that I thought was securing it to the camshaft but it still wont't budge off of there. Any tips of getting that thing off?

[mhariush]

Did you remove the woodruff key? The gear sits really snug, you have to try and jiggle it loose and put equal pressure on both sides of it and pull.

[mazdaverx7]

Thank you. I will give that a shot!

[jeffrsmith]

You will not be able to remove the woodruff key before removing the cam gear.

The gear can be a real bear to remove, I have seen some posts where other people used a two and sometimes three jaw puller to remove the gear.

When you are putting it back together a little anti-seize will make life much easier if you ever need to remove it later.

[jeffrsmith]

When you said you removed the 8mm bolt I thought you were talking about the triple-square that holds the gear to the cam. Sorry about pointing you towards a puller with that bolt still in place.

[mhariush]

mazdaverx7, when you say the 8mm bolt, you mean the cheesehead bolt yes? That's how I read it too. You have to loosen that and counter with a wrench on the carrier behind it...careful, the cheesehead strips as easily as, well, soft cheese... and the engine is easy to rotate if you're not countering enough or too much...

And yeah, woodruff key you can't remove before, that holds the gear in position, don't know what I was thinking there...thanks jeffrsmith

here's a diagram of the camshaft and parts



Edit: I see that someone came up with the solution on rennlist, and I now see what you mean about the 8mm bolt. I haven't wrenched on the 8V car for so long I forgot about that sleeve thingy. The 16V doesn't have that. But be very careful with the cheesehead. Buy a new one here on pelican to put back in cause those things are a paint. And they're cheap to replace when you can. I use a long adjustable wrench and wedge it against the chassis or wherever it may fit to counter the triple square bolt. And use a breaker bar or a long metal tube on your wrench to loosen the cheese head so you can be in control. Easy to slip. Make sure you bang the cheesehead socket into the bolt tightly.

[mazdaverx7]

Thank you for all of the great advice guys!!! I really appreciate your input! As of right now, I'm not worried about turning the cam so that the valves hit the pistons. This is where I'm at with the cam box:



because I bought the car with 8 bent valves, a complete going through of the cylinder head was necessary, which is what I installed two nights ago:



I'm concerned about the oil seepage out from behind the cam gear on the cam box. I figure I may as well replace all of the seals while I have it apart.

[Slam]

Sometimes no matter how careful you are that cam bolt strips. It's gotta be replaced anyway (it's a stretch bolt), so you could just drill its head off.

Speaking of heads, nice work!