Kevin

I mentioned it earlier BUT I had a chance to "blow up" some of your camshaft pictures. If I was doing this job I would "send" the camshafts out to be inspected. You have pitting in the exhaust lobe ramp area. They can be repaired and then polished.
I would also send out a few of your tappets for evaluation. Basically you are measuring the flats and putting them under magnification.
I can make a "suggestion" for a camshaft shop. Email me for details.

atcbi5

Ok, last night I had a nightmare about the Mezger. Getting the DFI conversion kit.

Kevin

DFI engine swap>>that would be fun LOL

jeebus31

Thanks, email sent.

Link to camshaft close ups https://imgur.com/a/nZ7d54J

Baum timing plate was shipped today. Interested to see how it compares to the Porsche plates Ed used.

Misery loves company! Looking forward to collaborating some more

jeebus31

Been doing some work the past few days. Taking off the gasket material on the camshaft housing is a major pain but I'm glad to be done with that. Engine degreaser and lots of elbow grease. Nice and clean aluminum faces now. I got the BBI fittings in and used JB weld to secure them in the housings. I decided JB and pinning was the way to go... too many stories of bad welding jobs resulting in leaks. I'll drop the pins in tomorrow or Sat.

Took my time with the housings and prepped them by removing the glue with paint thinner, then using 400 grit sandpaper to remove any traces of adhesive and some degreaser/brake kleen baths. I guess time will tell how well I did the prep but I was satisfied.



Baum tools version of the timing plates came in. Seem sturdy and well made. Hope it gets the job done properly. If anyone wants to rent out the tool later, reach out to me or Jayi836. Also picked up a pair of cylinder whistles to help with re-setting the timing.



I dropped off the cams at a local high performance engine builder, and they mentioned they just finished pinning the cams for a 9971.TT. Looked over my work and it was good. No pitting on the lobes. So they will clean up the cams and I hope to get started with reassembly soon. Already put the timing chain housing and new gaskets back on. Big shipment comes on Sunday, so pending any changes with this little global pandemic we're having, the real fun begins this weekend.

lliejk

I am also a fan of the glue/pin approach (as you know). Nice shiny new tool! Time to get some grease on it.

I had to look up cylinder whistle (I was trying to find a dial tool - never really did). Saw that it could replace my screwdriver!

Nice putting things back together, isn't it?

Good job so far.

Ed

jayi836

After seeing your work I'm in for the JB weld and pinning solution.. Great work documenting this project.

jeebus31

I'm starting to get restless - really want to get it finished soon!

Thanks! Hope to get those coolant fittings staked tonight or tomorrow.

Picked up the cams today. They look nice. Once I put the new rings and washers on, they'll be ready for reinstallation.

jeebus31

Got a big box of goodies from Porsche Marin today and finished up a couple outstanding jobs - drilled and pinned the coolant fittings, and then set the camshaft timing using new cam bolts and the Baum tool.

Box o' stuff


Drilled, tapped, and pinned. I stuff the fittings with shop towels and greased the drill and the tap to minimize shavings. Not that it really mattered since I have everything disassembled. This part was easy and enjoyable.




Camshaft timing - made a short video. Hopefully this is correct and helps someone in the future. The WM is a must for this procedure.

lliejk

Moving right along! Nice box, what like $1000 in there?

Don't forget to do something about the rubber ends of the metal pipes going to the turbos. That's where my leak was (thought it was one of the elbows - I was wrong). For the passenger side, I bought the whole piece, but the other was Unobtanium for now, so I found a hose that was close enough in diameter and shape, hacked the end that was on there and used it.

You should make a video WM (just kidding). The Baum tool looks perfect, much better than spending $4K (though I hear the Porsche tool is also NLA).

Those pipes aren't going anywhere now, I kept telling myself on my 3 month odyssey, "Peace of mind, peace of mind".

Definitely on the down slope now.

Ed

Brainz

Great video. Looks pretty straight forward with the tool (and your video). The only thing it would seem you would need to triple check is TDC and you are good to go.

bmw_e30

i like the pictures in this thread. 10/10 for the pics and the work you're doing

TT.BRN

Nice thread ... what did you use to hold the cam sprockets while torquing?

jeebus31

$1500

Ugh. What an expensive project - and I haven't even looked into the tuning aspect of it yet. Been a great experience though. A video WM would be fun, maybe once I retire!

By the way, those rubber pipes are available now. I looked at your parts list and I think the part number has been superseded:

997-106-075-76 and 997-106-076-75, I think these are the ones you're referring to. I ordered on Mon and they shipped today from NYC.

Yes that's correct. I did make a mistake in the video, however. There IS a timing mark for TDC but it's not on the engine case, it's on the idler/tensioner pulley housing. Luckily my tape mark was spot on but definitely should be done with the pulley housing in place to take advantage of the timing mark. Ed's thread has a nice photo of this.

Thank you sir! More pics coming once I find the time but I think so far I've covered all the tricky things. I have a tiptronic and replaced the transfer case gaskets and o-rings, so I'll post that DIY as well.

I didn't hold the sprockets with the Porsche tool (another $200 or so). I held the cams with a 30 mm wrench and it accomplishes the same task. Easier with two people to get the torque right, but doable with one person if you're creative with positioning.

I started to put the new hoses on yesterday to find out that I totally missed two o-rings. So while I wait on those to be shipped, I decided to mount the rebuilt 63.5 mm turbos. When I removed them, two of the header studs didn't come out on the passenger side so I decided to work on those so that I could have fresh studs all around. Bad idea... because I snapped one of them. Tried to drill it out and it was going well, until I broke off the drill bit in the stud. Damn it. Dropped off the turbo at the machine shop to have the experts deal with it, so I'll lose a couple more days. So it goes!

lliejk

BTDT, I can't tell you how many times I revised my spreadsheet (and there are still some items I ordered that I probably did not need). That is one of the reasons it took me three months to do everything.

Studs in exhaust type components are my greatest fear. In both engine jobs I have done, I have been VERY lucky and been able to deal with them. I wound up breaking a drill bit on one task, but was able to grab just enough of it and walk it back out. I was sweating bullets and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over (along with a couple of beers consumed!) because I had read horror stories of not being able to drill through a broken drill bit.

I can commiserate on the cost. If you look at the number on the bottom of my spreadsheet, you can see what I spent on everything I did (except the Kline exhaust for about $2K). Like I said I probably purchased items I did not need to purchase (mainly some of the cool side large coolant hoses) and with the exhaust ended up with over $8K in parts. But taken with the 4 major jobs (coolant refresh - including SW elbows, pinning cams and GT2 clutch slave) along with the other maintenance type items (sparks/coils/mounts, etc) I figured I save over $10K in labor and earned some very valuable information about the engine in the process. Of course I plan on keeping the car until either I or it are dust, so.... I think you are on the same track.

The most promising thing is you are being successful and to me that makes it all worth it.

Ed