jleidel

Hey all... I've spent the last three weeks cleaning parts, bolts, and the inside of the engine bay so I can finally start reassembling the motor [with a new cam tower gasket]. So... are there are tricks/hints to getting the cam tower seated back on the head? I can get the tower back in place on the guide pins but it seems like I always have at least one valve cap that is raised just enough to keep the cam tower from slipping completely back into place. I've tried doing quarter turns of the cam in order to get it back into place, but no dice...

Any thoughts/hints?

hacker-pschorr

When I installed mine, I placed the top six bolts through the hole and used small electrical wire wrapped around each bolt to keep them from falling into the cam tower. Once lined up, get every bolt started 2-3 turns, then remove the wire.

Once those are started, do the same with the lower bolts. Once they are all started, tighten each one a few turns moving around to all the bolts. This will pull the cam tower onto the head keeping pressure even across the valves.
There will be some resistance since a couple of valves are going to be pushed open as you tighten down the bolts.

toofast928

I suggest lots of alcohol before, during and after the event.

jleidel

Thanks for the tip Hacker. This sounds like a relatively painless method..
toofast... I *never* work on the shark w/o sufficient amounts of "daddy juice." :-)

jleidel

SUCCESS! Cam tower is back on the car... just need to finish torquing down the bolts. Will post pictures later...

Mrmerlin

a few thoughts, first what is the year of the engine??/car??
The early towers had separate gaskets for the the liners for the lifter guides, ( these gaskets are very hard to see as they are very thin) the new replacement housing gaskets have the gaskets already included in the new gasket, so if you have an early engine then the old lifter housing gaskets should be removed or you will develop oil leaks on the outer edges of the housing, as they will effectively lift the housing up a few thousands and create a gap along the housing

jleidel

Merlin... not the case with this car. Roger and Sean both verified that the "special" gaskets weren't required. The verdict is still out on exactly what this car/engine is... its somewhat of a b@stard.

jleidel

wammo...

NoVector

Congrats! I dicked up one of my gaskets when I put mine back on. Looking at your picture, I remember what a PITA it is to do with the engine in the car! Perfect time to take the air pump out (if you haven't already...)