cam housing gasket leak.......again
01-15-2007 | 08:06 PM
#31
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,077
Likes: 2
From: St Augustine FL
I changed my cambox gasket over the weekend. I ended up pulling my spare motor apart and using the box off that one.
The motor is a stock, 72K mile S engine, which to the best of my knowledge was always Porsche serviced.
When I pulled the cam box off I was surprised to find it had a non Porsche cambox gasket. The gasket was black and marked "Armstrong Performance PFAC" in blue print. It appears thicker than the Porsche gasket, and shows no sign of the graphite coating at the rear end. The cam box also looked like it had been flycut on the mating surface to the head.
So it looks like this motor had the cam box re-worked.
I used a stock Porsche gasket, and fingers crossed it will last a few months, if not years.
If camboxes are such a problem, why did Porsche not superce the gasket with something better, or perhaps the Porsche gasket is the best one, providing the box and head surfaces are perfect?
The motor is a stock, 72K mile S engine, which to the best of my knowledge was always Porsche serviced.
When I pulled the cam box off I was surprised to find it had a non Porsche cambox gasket. The gasket was black and marked "Armstrong Performance PFAC" in blue print. It appears thicker than the Porsche gasket, and shows no sign of the graphite coating at the rear end. The cam box also looked like it had been flycut on the mating surface to the head.
So it looks like this motor had the cam box re-worked.
I used a stock Porsche gasket, and fingers crossed it will last a few months, if not years.
If camboxes are such a problem, why did Porsche not superce the gasket with something better, or perhaps the Porsche gasket is the best one, providing the box and head surfaces are perfect?
01-16-2007 | 09:01 AM
#33
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,077
Likes: 2
From: St Augustine FL
Welding might solve the leakage problem, but it would create a lot of new issues.
The only way to weld it would be with the motor out. The lower head studs and nuts are covered by the cam box, so to do a head job you would have to pull the motor and grind out the weld, and split the box from the head. You wouldn't be able to take the cambox off for lifter or cam maintenance.
Welding puts a lot of heat in to the metal and additional stress, it could create problems of its own, or crack over time.
Cam boxes can be a pain but a relatively easy repair. It would appear that if a simple gasket change doesn't fix the problem then skimming of the cam box is the next step. If its the head that is not flat then its a much bigger task. I am alwys loathe to machine unless absolutely necessary, as there are only so many times or so much metal you can take off, but if that's what it takes, there's not much choice.
The only way to weld it would be with the motor out. The lower head studs and nuts are covered by the cam box, so to do a head job you would have to pull the motor and grind out the weld, and split the box from the head. You wouldn't be able to take the cambox off for lifter or cam maintenance.
Welding puts a lot of heat in to the metal and additional stress, it could create problems of its own, or crack over time.
Cam boxes can be a pain but a relatively easy repair. It would appear that if a simple gasket change doesn't fix the problem then skimming of the cam box is the next step. If its the head that is not flat then its a much bigger task. I am alwys loathe to machine unless absolutely necessary, as there are only so many times or so much metal you can take off, but if that's what it takes, there's not much choice.
