Quote:
Originally Posted by Opelotus
That being said, I may have to rip off the driver's side cam housing and replace just that paper gasket for the time being. At least then the car will be usable until I figure out a more solid plan, which may mean putting off the project until the spring unfortunately. It's not ideal, but I've got a few things in the works and the timing of this project is not great 
I'm really looking forward to tearing into things but I want to do it right the first time, which means I'll need plenty of time to take it slow.
Anyways, I'm getting in touch with Roger tomorrow to get some parts lined up. |
Some advice from someone who just replaced the cam carrier gaskets with the engine in the car: DON'T!!!
First: the motor mounts bolts have to be removed so that each side of the engine can be raised enough to remove and replace the cam carrier for that side. If you do decide to do it with the engine in the car, buy at least 4 gaskets because you will probably destroy at least one per side trying to fit the cam carrier back to the head.
Second: it took me 2 full days to clean off the old gaskets from the head surface while the engine was in the car. I'm not a particularly speedy worker, but I'm by no means slow. The gaskets on my car appeared to be original and were a total PITA to get completely off with the engine in the car. YMMV
Third: There is not a tool in most weekend mechanic tool chests that would allow you to correctly torque the cam carriers with the limited space available to do so.
Fourth: Removing the bolts for the cam carrier can be a daunting experience because of the lack of room to fit a proper tool to break the torqued bolts loose.
Fifth: If a upper cam carrier bolt is dropped inside the cam carrier while reinstalling, you obviously must figure out a way to retrieve that bolt within the constraints of the limited space and visual capability. Those bast$%ds will hide from you and make you rethink your sanity. Better to have the engine out of the car so if one is dropped, you can look squarely in the hole with a light to find out which direction it went.
Removing the engine alleviates all of these roadblocks IMHO. It's probably a one full day job with the engine out of the car.
Good Luck!