PSUice944

Eureka! My cam assembly is off the car thanks to the help of da list!

I had to make a deep 6mm hex key with the help of a dremel tool, great tip there....

So, my cam cover is rather oily and holey with cork reminants on the back end. I want to paint this thing and it needs cleaned first very much. Tips on how to prep this up? Is getting cleaner and such ok for the underside camshaft and bearings? I'm thinking not but would like to know first!

Also, tips on what to use to clean up the old gasket reminants and do i need some sort of prep-goo for the cork and cam cover on reassembly?

And a bonus question... Clark's garage is a little lacking on torque specs in the procedures, where can I find some online to reference?

You guys have been great, BTW. It really is something special to have this resource at our fingertips. And those of you who know everything... I DO hope you feel good sharing all your knowledge, cause we need it!

V2Rocket

Degreaserrrrr/Simple green work wonders for that oily mess. A brass wirebrush is good for the camcover to get it ready to paint.

Techno Duck

I let the cam tower drain out over night into a aluminum turkey pan. I cleaned the mating surface as best as i could with acetone to promote the adhesive on the tape to stick. I then taped the entire bottom with blue masking tape and gave it a good degreasing with Simple Green and a tooth brush. The main cam gasket came off cleanly in one piece so there was minimal cleaning needed. But if any of the gaskets do get stuck, carefully use a razor blade to scrape off whats left.

KuHL 951

I tape and visqueen the gasket areas on the bottom and seal areas to keep chems out of the guts. I use Easy Off oven cleaner first with a stiff brush and let it sit for no more than 10 minutes, then Simple Green, a good water flush, and blow it all dry with compressed air. If you are going to paint it I highly recommend a good zinc chromate primer or epoxy primer for raw aluminum first. Any paint over aluminum needs a primer tie coat to bond the paint well. Urethane or any Hi-temp paint will work. Powder coating is fine without a tie coat but the residual bead blast material for PC concerns me if it's not completely removed from components that have moving parts. I worry to much I guess.