Questions about top end rebuild

[afx]

I am in the process of putting my car back together after a timing belt breakage and had some questions.
I am needing some bolts,

one for the head that goes here


and the one that attaches the cam housing to the head


Also, I bought a head gasket set and I got a few seals that I was not sure of. (the 2 rings, the other brown ring, and the little white ring)


Where can I get these bolts? I need the one for the head, and one for the cam housing. Can I get these at Pelican Parts? or the Porsche Dealer?

Thanks

[AFJuvat]

My first guess would be the dealer - they sell stuff like that, most parts placed don't bother stocking stuff like that.

I do have to ask, what happened to the ones you took off?

Some of those seals look like the ones that go behind the camshaft pulley, otherwise, unless you know what kit it is from and what was already installed, I would be guessing at best.

AFJuvat

[afx]

The bolt I took off from the block broke when I was trying to take it off. Ended up having to drill it out and re-tap the hole. The bolt in the cam housing got stripped when I was removing it. I just figure I will put together my engine and just use the seal I need... hope it works out

[overkill]

What seal? The camshaft seal? If so, you should replace it,... if the seal is bad or goes bad it will leak all down by the timing belt. Shouldn't take that chance.

[jagar]

Odd I'm in the middle of the same job, and I think I broke the same exact bolt/place it was in. Take one of the good bolts to an ACE Hardware, for some odd reason I've had odd bolts break on my 944 and seem to find them there before any friggin auto parts shop. good luck

[wannaberacer]

the red seal goes between the throttle body-intake mainfold
the brown seal is probably a camshaft bearing seal (if you got three, 2 are for the balance shaft, and the other for the cam, if you got 1 its for the camshaft)
the white seal is for and oil gallery or something inside the cam tower
the black seal is also for the cam tower.

If you didn't take the cam housing apart, than you wouldn't have come across 3 of the 4 seals you have. So don't fret about missing seals.

BTW: you should also have a clear celophane seal that also goes in the cam tower. I'm just wondering if you came across it yet.

[kenny]

in VW gasket kits they give you every seal from every VW ever made (at least the air-cooled ones) -- you always get leftover ones even after a complete rebuild -- for what Porsche charges for the the COULD do the same but I suspect they don't.

Be careful getting non-approved bolts. I often select bolts based on strength (grade in the non-mil spec. world). Headbolts etc are most likely not low-grade bolts. As long as you can get the same grade (marked on head), then it's OK. micelaneous non-structural fasteners don't matter (plastic pan attach for instance),

[wannaberacer]

afx,
If you do decide to take the housing apart, replace the cam bolt! It's important to do so because its a one use thing. After it stretches for the first time, it won't stretch the same again. It's also cheap (like $5) and if I were you, I would replace the bolt you stripped with the one's from the dealer. Bolts aren't created the same (unless by the same manufacturer).Since the reason you torque a bolt is to stretch it = different bolts stretch differently. Therefore replace the bolt with one from the dealer, also I think those bolts are only a dollar or two, cheap.

[kenny]

wannaberacer ,
Different bolts strech differently -- well sort of

If the bolts are made of different material (steel vs. Aluminum) then they will 'stretch' differently. Aluminum and steel have different stiffnesses. If the two bolts are the same material (in this case steel) they will stretch the same for a while, but a higher strength bolt will yield later as it is stronger (It is capable of carrying a higher load).

If a bolt is preloaded (torque causes an axial load in the bolt) to yield (which is not a particularly good practice) then it probably should be replaced (because it should have been a bigger bolt to begin with and is 'working' harder than is prudent). I would recommend only using the original bolt unless you can confirm the strength of the original and can fin an equal strength bolt.

I've heard a few comments about this particular bolt as a problem, and would agree that it probably would be a good idea to replace it. It may or may not be a good idea to go to a higher strength bolt, because as the strength goes up, the bolt becomes more brittle. In some applications this can be a concern as well.