fiily

I was trying to finish up doing the front reseal/tb/waterpump job on my 944 including all of the race/flanges, mylar seals, front main oil seal, oil pump gear, balance shaft rear o-rings on the balance shafts, and finally the cam tower reseal front/back along with the valve gasket.

I was using Clark's method of waking-up the bolt with my 10mm cheesehead socket, and had the wife hold the retaining collar.

I tried removing the cheesehead bolt from the front cam pulley and now after plenty of attempts, it's stripped. So my question is, anyone know how to remove the cheesehead now? I don't have any torches/fire, is there any hope, or am I SOL?

Can I remove the cam tower all in 1 piece and try to remove it off the engine?

I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thank much, phil.

Tom M'Guinn

Yes, you can pull the tower and remove it on the bench. Either way, however, it's surprisingly simple to drill the head off. Just use a bit slightly bigger than the shaft of the bolt. The stripped out head will center the bit, and the remains of the bolt will normally just turn out by hand. Use a shop vac or magnet to mind the metal shavings.

fiily

Just so I get this right, drill out the head using a larger bit then the bolt, rip the head off of the bolt, then pull the retaining collar & pulley off?

I think the hulk tightened down the cheesehead in the car currently. While trying to remove the cheesehead bolt I cried, laughed, prayed, had a hissy fit, mumbled some incantations, then finally came back to my senses and asked you guys for help.

mahoney944

Yep drill the head off and remove what you can then you should be able to clamp vice grips on the threaded part and get it out. Get a new bolt for reassembly

fiily

I have the new cheesehead bolt, camshaft oil seal, mylar seal and race on hand. The valve gasket, and rear housing gasket are coming in on friday, so i thought I would pull it now, and when the parts came in I would be ahead of the game, but unfortunately, the bolt thought otherwise.

I am ordering a new cheesehead set, the set I bought was cheap Performance Parts one's($17), and now I am paying for it with a stripped camshaft bolt.

I am going to pull the whole tower so I can get a drill bit in there and get to drilling.

Van

Don't feel bad - those cam sprocket bolts strip quite easily. As has been suggested, you drill the head off with a drill bit that's just a little over the shank diameter of the bolt - this allows the head to separate from the shank. Once that's done, the rotor drive collar and the cam gear will slide off.

I won't be surprised if you can then unscrew the remaining part of the bolt by hand. Or you might need pliers.

Crazy Eddie

Ditto on Tom and Van's recommendation...
If it were me, I would drill it out while it's on the car ... It's like putting your cam tower in a vice ... no worries about it moving while your drilling the bolt head out
Also, I bought a very good set of Triple Square (cheese head sockets) http://www.zdmak.com/wbstore/main.as...CTMP=1&LowCt=0
Wow, I just looked up what I paid 9 yrs ago, and the price was only 24 bucks
The dollar is worthless now ....
Good luck
Regards
Ed

fiily

Oh!, I have the infamous Van in on the thread, your youtube video's inspired me to do the job, timing belt, cam tower redo, big fan here, thanks for everything you do to help the porsche community out. Waiting to pull tower out tonight, it's getting cold out too quick here in NH.

fiily

I am having a hard time getting my 20v drill with the bit straight on the camshaft bolt, it's a clearance issue with the headlight bars, any thought's around this?

New cheesehead set should be in shortly, ran me around $26.

mahoney944

Dewalt angle drill ....go to Lowe's. Or they also make a right angle attachment for any drill if you don't want to buy a right angle drill

Crazy Eddie

Just looking at this picture below, I can see there maybe a clearance issue Clarence
Maybe a smaller drill like the hex drive one?
BTW next time, maybe you can do it yourself this setup? It worked for me...

Good luck
Regards
Ed

fiily

Pretty close to what I had in place. I placed a 2/4 down lengthwise by the frame rail , and the 1 1/4" wrench sitting on top of it, then had the wifey hold the wrench in place as I proceeded to strip the cheesehead bolt.

Crazy Eddie

Sometimes they just strip ...
I think it has to a lot to do with a number of factors...
The tool your using ( that's why I went for the better tool )
The condition of bolt
The pressure you apply on the tool ( I always push in on the bolt, as hard, or even harder on the bolt, as I apply rotational force.
And sometimes no matter what you do, your screwed ( no pun intended) and its gonna strip.
You shouldn't have any problem drilling it out. Just make sure you use a very good bit ... no cheap crap bit ... It's just not worth it ...
If you can't get the clearance,then you need then just take it off and have the wife give you another assist

Grandpa#3

Hi Phil, There is no better excuse than now to buy some more and better tools. A tinker man always needs extra better sets of the same tools.

Cheers,
Larry

fiily

I agree, wife doesn't but it's my toy.

Going to pull the head tomorrow getting late in the day and i am going to watch Thursday night football. I'll have the whole weekend to pull the intake and replace the old vacuum lines while i'm there, remove the reference sensor, pop in a new one, and try to remove the AOS or should I say PITA and clean p the car a little more by scrubbing with some toothbrushes.