Epic2112

I should preface this by saying that I have no idea what I'm doing. Now that you know that, here's my question(s):

I recently picked up a cam cover, camshaft, cam gear assembly pretty cheap. There are other parts in there too I'm sure, but I don't know what they are. I bought it because I'd like to experiment a little with painting the cam cover without destroying the one on my car . Is there any reason that I shouldn't take this stuff completely apart and clean it up, removing all the lubrication (it's still all assembled the way it was in the car) other than that I might forget how to put it all back together?

The car this stuff came from is an 86 NA, my understanding is that the cam cover is the same as on my 89 951, but I want to double check that this is correct. Also, the cam, gear, and other stuff are different then on my car right? Or are they also the same?

Any other things I should know?

Epic2112

I can take some pics also if it would help to see what the other bits are.

NZ951

Cam shaft is different. I cant recall about the cover...

RI951

Hey Epic,

If you'd like to part with the six galley plugs and washers on the top of your "practice" cover, I'd be interested in buying them from you. They're the six hex head plugs above the "Porsche" lettering...

Have fun.

Joe Jackson

Cam housing and all other associated parts except for the camshaft are the same for all years. Early 944 NA and all turbos use the same camshaft. Late NA's use a different camshaft.

If you want to clean it up before painting, the best and easiest way is to glass bead it. You will want to mask all machined sealing surfaces and probably fill all holes leading inside the housing to avoid getting glass beads in there (not good for lubrication). I can take a picture of one that I just did if you'd like to see what to expect.

Epic2112

Joe, Id love to see a pic, and also if you point point me in the direction of an explanation of what glass beading is and how to do it that would be great, because it's something I've never heard of before.

RI951, I'm going to hang on to those plugs for now and probably paint them too, but I'll let you know if my plans change, or if/when I swap out the original ones.

I'm eager to take it all apart and see how it works, should I drop that idea?

seb928s

Here is what I did to the 924S while I was fixing it up to sell it. High temp paint and polished. Looked pretty slick.

Epic2112

Seb, is that just rattle can paint? Did you just sand down the lettering ands polish it? Won't it yellow again in time? Or did you paint the silver also?

seb928s

It's that high temp paint that's around 5$ a can works great on the brakes aswell. I polished it up and I sanded everything down. Then I painted it. Also used high temp clear coat on the finish product on the Porsche writing. This way it won't turn colors. Also it won't turn colors in sometime if you left it alone.

BoostGuy951

It is very very hard to completely mask all inlets for the glass bead blasting. If you are going to have it blasted, you should throughly degrease it first. Some sand WILL get in there, but if there isnt oil inside, it will easily wash out. The sand will not wash out if there is oil in there for the it to stick to.

Epic2112

Cool thanks. Looks great BTW.

Epic2112

Ok so here's my next question:

What's this thing called?

seb928s

Lifter

Epic2112

Ah ha! So this is the bit that pushes on the valve to open it?

I hope you guys don't mind the engine building 101 questions here

Joe Jackson

Glass beading:

Before
After

Keep in mind to do this correctly, you'll need to find someone with a relatively large glass beading setup. Luckily, I get to use the one at work. I used acetone to degrease all the machined surfaces and then used masking tape to cover them up. I also plugged all the holes with paper. I did the cam gear cover front and rear plus my intake while I was at it. I plan on washing eveything off with water before reassembling to remove any leftover dust.