That's a really good idea for getting the bolts and washers into the hole. Probably more forward thinking than I am capable of. :)

While you have the PS hoses on the driver's side, you have the fixed metal lines on the passenger side inner fender and even tighter room to maneuver.

All in all, just a PITA job.

I had replaced both cam carrier gaskets several years back with the engine in, but they were the "updated" part which I later discovered is junk, something about the coating that is on the front and rear edges of the gasket is apparently unreliable.
I'm going for the redesigned gaskets from Roger made by Greg Brown IIRC.

Yes, replacing them in the car is not fun/easy, and I will have to undo the motor mount bracket bolts to raise the engine a bit.

I had already cut a 6mm hex wrench and used a 6mm 1/4" drive socket to make a long hex key. It works well, the socket on the end fits inside the upper cam carrier holes so you can get a ratchet right up against the carrier. Good idea qdac.

A combination of the paper sleeve and a dab of grease for reinstallation sound good to me!

I really really want to pull the engine and do everything now, but I'm running out of time and my daily driver now needs a few things sorted before winter. But aside from the time it takes to R&R one cam, I'm only losing ~$45 to parts.

Well it's apart!

Trick was to unbolt only the driver's side engine mount, then with a jack/wooden block under the oil pan, the engine can be lifted/tilted up, giving access and a better angle of attack to some of the bolts.

Aside from removing all drive belts, fan, upper shroud, all front timing covers and the timing belt, not much else had to come apart.

Power steering pump/lines stayed together, but the pump was unbolted allowing some movement of the high pressure hose. Also unbolted the PS reservoir and pushed it aside. Coil was removed as well as the driver's fuel rail, intake stayed in place.

Removed the cam gear and front cam "ear"/distributor mount (to avoid removing inner timing belt cover), then removed all cam bolts and slid the assembly forward and out. Sure enough, the gasket had split and pressurized oil forced it out from between the cam/head enough for it to leak.

Pics coming shortly.

GREAT explanation and thanks for these tips.

Almost done cleaning/prepping for reinstallation, waiting on some parts to arrive. Still have to snap some pictures.

Pulled out the WSM to look up torque specs, can someone confirm my findings?

Cam housing bolts - 14 ft/lbs
Cam housing plug - 29 ft/lbs
Cam sprocket bolt - 47 ft/lbs (for grade 10.9 bolt)

Great job
 

Great job! Please post pics. Aren't you glad you didn't pull the motor. I'm sure the bottom end is fine. Good luck!

She's alive! No more smoke-screen! :D

Gasket and seals arrived on Saturday. I spent at least 8 hours getting everything back together, everything got torqued to spec except the rear-most 8mm hex key plug next to the brake booster. I have too many pictures to post here so I'm trying out Photobucket, let me know how this works: 9TWO8Guy's Library | Photobucket

The smoke in the video is residual oil burning off the exhaust manifold.

All in all, it's not too terrible a job, there is just a lot of stuff that has to come apart. You also need to buy/make a couple special tools and invent some new curse words along the way ;) My goal was to remove as little as possible in the process, and I managed to replace the driver's gasket without removing any of the PS system hoses, the inner timing cover, or the crank pulleys. The intake runners stayed in too.

I’m putting together a quick write-up of the steps/tricks involved in getting this done. Will post it as soon as I finish typing it up.

Cheers!

A better man than me :)

Congratulations!!

I think I may have invented those new curse words first BTW.

Here's what I have so far. Keep in mind I am running a Porken tensioner and do not have A/C or an air pump on my engine, so some steps may vary a bit. I still have to write up the reassembly part. Hopefully all this makes sense and someone will find it helpful :p




1. Drive front of car onto ramps (mine are about 8” high). Chock rear wheels and set the parking brake.

2. Remove fuel pump relay and run engine until it dies.

3. Disconnect battery ground strap. Throw on a set of fender covers!

4. Remove upper radiator fan shroud, intake tubes, and air box/AFM .

5. Disconnect spark plug wires + green wire and remove distributor.

6. Unplug fuel injector connectors and unbolt the injectors from the intake.

7. Counter-hold and loosen front and rear fuel rail fittings and catch escaping fuel.

8. Remove fuel rail and cap off/plug the open ends of the fuel lines on the car. Plug the injector holes in the intake runners. Swing the injector harness out of the way toward the throttle body/back of engine.

9. Disconnect vacuum hose from brake booster and top of intake plenum. Swing it over the top of the intake.

10. Unbolt and remove ignition coil.

11. Remove radiator under-tray.

12. Loosen PS pump and remove belt.

13. Remove belt-driven fan and drive belt.

14. Remove alternator and belt.

15. Remove all PS pump mounting bolts and PS pump/alternator mounting bracket.

16. Release PS reservoir hose clamp and remove return hose mounting clip (10mm bolt below coil). Let the pump and reservoir hang down (mine did not spill any fluid when tipped, but if yours is really full it may spill out)

17. Drain oil and remove oil filler hose and filler tube. Remove dipstick tube. If you raise the front of the car high enough, you can avoid spilling oil out of the filler tube without draining the oil if you wish.

18. Remove both cam gear front covers and center timing belt cover. Insert a 6x1.0 bolt (?) into the now open water pump bolt hole to prevent coolant leakage (one of the center cover bolts goes through the water pump).

19. Rotate engine to 0 degrees TDC. Loosen timing belt tensioner and remove timing belt from both cam gears. Since the tensioner pulley on the Porken setup is behind the crank damper, it was easier to remove the hydraulic auto-tensioner to slacken the belt rather than insert the flywheel lock tool and remove the crank bolt and pulleys (removing the clutch slave cylinder to use the flywheel lock tool is a PITA). Then I used a large C-clamp and slowly compressed the tensioner until the locking pin could be inserted.

20. Slide under the car and remove the 10mm bolt holding the starter/alternator cable to the cross-member (near the steering rack fittings). Remove the four bolts holding the driver’s side motor mount bracket to the engine block.

21. Counter-hold the large 32mm nut on the driver’s cam gear and loosen the cam bolt. Remove the gear and hardware.

22. Remove the Allen head bolt holding the inner timing cover to the lower edge of the camshaft front bearing “ear”. Remove the three bolts on the camshaft “ear” and slide it out of the camshaft housing. Gently tap with a plastic or rubber hammer if necessary. Carefully bend the inner timing cover toward the radiator and slide the cam “ear” off the end of the camshaft.

23. Slide the round rubber buffer on the PS high-pressure hose near the strut tower toward the PS pump. Lift up the PS high-pressure hose up and over the innermost strut assembly mounting bolt and tie it in place. This will allow better access to the cam housing bolts and make removal easier.

24. Remove the strut tower cross-brace

25. Using a floor jack and a large piece of wood placed under the driver’s side of the oil pan, slowly lift the engine up so that it tilts up and toward the passenger side of the engine bay. Do not go too high as the passenger side cam housing will hit the AC line bracket on the passenger side strut tower. Keep an eye out for other possible areas of interference.

26. Remove the Allen head caps along the top of the cam housing. The rearmost cap can be tricky to access with the brake booster in the way. I used a standard 8mm allen key wrench with a small length of pipe to crack it free.

27. Using a 6mm Allen key socket, break loose all of the cam housing bolts, 9 along the bottom and 6 along the top. I made my own extended Allen tool to access the top bolts by cutting off the long end of a 6mm Allen key wrench and gluing it into a 6mm socket. Note: oil will begin to drip onto the exhaust manifold and possibly onto the ground.

28. The camshaft and therefore cam housing are under spring pressure from the valve springs. Loosen all the cam housing bolts a couple turns at a time to release the spring pressure. The goal is to remove the cam housing evenly front to rear to avoid any possible damage.

29. Once all spring pressure is release, remove all the housing bolts completely. A magnet is helpful for removing the top bolts.

30. With all the bolts removed, very carefully lift the cam housing away of the cylinder head and tip the PORSCHE script side of the assembly down toward the exhaust manifold so the lifters will not slide out. You can then lift the assembly straight upward between the intake runners and the strut tower and out. This is easier with an assistant as the assembly is a little heavy.

31. Lay the cam housing assembly upside down on a flat surface so the lifters are pointing up. Remove all the lifters with a clean magnet and keep them in order from front to rear – IMPORTANT! They must be put back in the same bores during reassembly.

32. Slide the camshaft out the front of the housing and store it somewhere safe.

33. Remove the rear housing cover.

34. Clean the empty housing top to bottom, inside and out! The old gasket can be tricky and time consuming to remove. I used a NEW razor blade to slowly scrape off the old gasket, and a scotch-brite pad to clean off any small remnants. Keep in mind the housing is aluminum/alloy and can be scratched easily with a steel razor blade. I then sprayed the housing with Purple Power and used a toothbrush to scrub it clean. Then give a good rinse with water and compressed air to dry it. Make sure no debris is left inside the housing, lifter bores or oil passages. Wrap the cleaned housing in plastic or tape off all openings until reassembly.

35. Plug the oil return passages in the cylinder head and wrap the valve springs with rags. Use the same razor blade/scotch-brite method to clean off the cylinder head. Be mindful of the oil feed passage toward the front lower corner of the cylinder head when cleaning. Once the old gasket is gone, clean out the bolt holes with some brake cleaner and compressed air.