John McM

I'm lucky to have only ever done it engine-out. I showed the tool to a Porsche mechanic and he said he still prefers the feeler gauge but many struggle with it because they can't recheck the gap.

ffc

Having the skill and making the time to remove your engine isn't luck. :-) Great thread BTW.

C4inLA

John,

Can you confirm the following as true;

Cyl 1 and 4 lash are set correct.

When at TDC cyl #1 (cyl #4 also is at TDC at this time) and the dot stamp of both cams therefore is pointing UP.

1st 360 degree turn s/b 1.26mm left cam, 2nd 360 degree turn s/b 1.26mm right cam.

This now puts you back at TDC cyl #1 and both dots on cams pointing up.

John McM

I received a PM re the service cover I'm using.

It's available from Pelican. It's a Colgan custom rear service cover http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...+service+cover

Please note that the cover isn't perfect. The pad for the air con compressor is on the wrong side and I felt the need to put some cloths under the elastic part that clips on the fenders

John McM

I will look at that tonight.

Update: I didn't get to the above before I left for Japan. I downed tools for a period at the OPC that did the rebuild's request while they worked out their response to the leak(s). Now that I have that response (reading between the lines they want to split the case themselves, to see whether I can prove fault) I have a definitive position to act on. I've declined their offer, as there's no commitment and I don't want to be given a pile of parts back.

So next up is the final strip down. What will I find?

John McM

I arrived back from Japan and started into the teardown the same day.

The first hurdle came with the four bolts holding the chain bracket. It's a tight fit around the heads and the Bahco 12 point 10mm socket wouldn't fit. It was 14.4mm wide so off to the tool shop. A Toptul 6 point socket at 13.9mm sorted that out.

John McM

With the guards off and the tensioners removed it was easy to take off the sprockets. As per the workshop manual directions I carefully checked the thrust washer and number of shims.

Unfortunately they were not installed correctly. The shims and thrust washers were in the wrong order and one thrust washer had the wrong orientation. I have no idea if that is an issue or not.

John McM

With the sprockets and shims off I removed the left hand cam cover. There's an interesting blob of sealant on the cover. Is this going to be repeated on the nose bearing? That could be the cause of my leak.

John McM

I decided to remove all of the tappets and camshaft on the left bank.

The tappets required a lot of socket extensions to get the hex key in the right place.

The camshaft is in perfect condition. Two of the tappets have minor pitting. I'll get them checked.

C4inLA

Is that what's left of paper gasket or was that a sealant coated to paper gasket? They call the bevel a groove makes me feel better it's documented, thanks.

John McM

I'd say it's sealant from the gasket.

John McM

With the rockers removed it's relatively easy to remove the camshafts, then undoing a fair few bolts allows the cam tower to be removed, revealing the cylinder heads and valve train.

John McM

Undoing the head studs allows the heads to be removed. The first sight of the pistons is fun but the joy is tempered by the sight of two chips where the early year heads have been machined to accept a sealing ring. If I had that decision again I would have left the heads as per original. At least they appear to be sealing ok.

C4inLA

Interesting .. wonder if machining jig/lath caused that? Seems to had good seal. So, the orange sealant between cam and heads is not really adhesive makes cam tower come of easy?

John McM

I will never know with any certainty, but I can see the machining leaves a very narrow edge which seems vulnerable. As said above I would never machine a groove again.

As for the cam towers the 574 application is a bit over the top and it gave a bit of resistance. A lot of studs meant it had to come off almost perfectly vertically.