Rob Edwards

William and I spent the late afternoon on Minerva- he brought back the shocks that were installed on the car, we compared them to new Boge blacks (identical to what is now on Minerva- No difference in the dimensions of old vs. new shocks, anywhere:



You may recall the inside of the motor was varnish city. We figured we'd try the old trick of a quart of ATF in with the oil and drive it around a bit. After about 50 miles of driving, the oil drained out satisfyingly crappy-looking today, and the filter element was satisfyingly goopy with soft crud.




We had also noted an annoying little wisp of smoke here and there from the engine compartment during the shakedown driving- closer inspection revealed some oil weepage all along along the lower edge of the driver's side cam tower. So we bit the bullet and pulled the driver's side top off the engine, to have a look at the cam tower gasket.



Here's a nice pic of a newbie mistake with the cam tower gasket on the early tower with separate lifter bores- I'm guessing the cam tower gasket isn't supposed to overlap the upper edges of the bores, which do sit proud of the tower surface ....



So I am left to conclude that we probably oughta trim some crescents out of the (next) cam tower gasket so they freaking fit properly. Should have been obvious in hindsight, but I'm a newb to this cam tower stuff....

A little further over:

The Deputy

When you guys did your "shakedown" run for the suspension...did you get up to speed on a a slightly rough road...or just putz around the neighborhood? I'm fortunate, I guess, that there are two paved roads that mirror the image of a worst dirt roads in the nation. After about twenty-five miles of driving, 55mph, on either of these roads and the suspension is fully settled.

Even though the housing of those strut shocks are different, narrowing at the top in different locations, I can't see how that would affect the strut when it is in the rest position. Might make a difference in extended or compressed situations, or perhaps ride quality, but while at rest (car just sitting), not wrapping my brain around anything that its difference would cause.

That sucks about the cam tower gasket(s).

Brian.

Dave928S

Yes you need to trim the gaskets to fit. Here's a thread discussing that very issue (and the figure eight gaskets) ... https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...r-gaskets.html

Edit: How did your repair and refill of the hydraulic head light adjuster system turn out?

James Bailey

this is quite the thread on early car restoration....awesome detail !!

Rob Edwards

Had an interesting day on Minerva- we were all set to re-install the driver's side cam tower on the car:



and I was underneath looking at everything, and noted a little trickle of oil running down the passenger side exhaust manifold. So since (of course) we mis-installed the gaskets on both sides, makes perfect sense that the passenger side should be leaking too.

So after dismissing crazy thoughts about pulling the engine, we settled down and pulled the passenger side cam tower too. The whole front of the motor is off anyway, might as well do it right (now that we're seasoned cam tower veterans....). Hopefully the second time's the charm....

Big thanks to Mark W. for the Saturday delivery of (more) cam tower gaskets from Precision Motorwerks!

Rob Edwards

Not successful- I couldn't seem to get the system to work, not sure whether the governor was actually moving fluid, or whether the actuators had been sufficiently bled. Will re-visit them once we get the engine buttoned up again.

William A

Lots easier to take detailed pictures when we are doing the same job 2 and 3 times (or 14 times in the case of getting the rear quarter window trims right )


I am concluding this has become the "Apollo 13" version of a 928 restoration, we didn't know what we don't know and we are learning on the fly, lol!

Rob and I still haven't run out of patience and remain committed to getting it right no matter how many steps backward are required. (Actually, I wonder if Rob sabotaged the gaskets just to prolong the Minerva project fun, I'm onto you buddy!)

The Deputy

Hmmm...not sure if that's the way that old adage goes...but we could change it...if everything goes right...lol.

New gaskets look much better than the old set, were the old ones supplied in a kit or something? Since, someday...I will be going through old reds engine.

Also, that detail piece (black crimp molding) along the top edge of the firewall black rubber coating...was that there...in the beginning?

Sorry to hear about the setbacks, but these things happen.

Brian.

VanD

My motto has always been: "We do it right because we do it twice"....

Jadz928

My motto has always been: "60% of the time, I'm right everytime".

GregBBRD

Although I know that you are totally a "spreadsheet guy", the real cost of 100's of hours of work isn't always found on a checkbook register.

I'm betting that Rob's patience isn't the one you should be concerned with, about now....

LT Texan

Replacing those cam carrier gaskets with the engine in the bay!

You are a better man than me.

Rob Edwards

Believe me, around 2 PM yesterday we were thinking the engine should come out. But cooler heads prevailed.

Pulled the cam towers yesterday, let the lifters and towers drain out overnight. Cleaned the snot out of everything this morning:



Reassembled, and trimmed a new pair of gaskets to fit properly:



Back in the car, managed to figure out all the combinations of tools needed to get proper torque on all 30 fasteners. Took the two of us about 4 hours to get both back on.



Driver's side underneath:



Passenger side underneath:


Meanwhile, I'm taking advantage of stuff being apart to go further down the rabbit hole on some things. The airpump ( I cleaned it but didn't take it apart before) was making some noise so we decided to pull it apart to have a look at the vanes and the bearings.

Eww..



So it all came apart (after building a tool to get the pulley bushing off, per Mark Grasser's old writeup), and ordered some bearings for the pulley, rear housing, and vane shaft.



Air pump pulley bearing, 6203V



Air pump rear housing bearing, B-188:



Air pump vane shaft bearings, J-65:

William A

You are so right, and perhaps solving problems in a differently ordered way then what I am used to in my everyday world has been what I have found so intriguing about this restoration.


In the case of the most recent challenge, the only fall back position is to figure out how to torque cam tower bolts that literally can't be done in a "traditional" straightforward way. So we scratch our heads, try different things, bounce ideas off each other until the light goes on. Voila, its done and what for you is a very simple thing becomes a high five victory for a novice like me. Good stuff!

BC

So, after all this, is it still "Paint, then mechanical"? Or do you see a path for "Mechanical, then paint"?