Engine

Cam Tower Seal Replacement, Early 928

Just finished replacing the driver side cam tower seal on my '79 Manual and wanted to express my pleasure at how relatively simple it was. By using a couple of 6mm hex wrenches that I chopped up into one long straight bit and one shorter straight bit I was able to reach all the bolts relatively easily. I "stuck" the longer bit into an extra 6mm socket by spanning the socket with a piece of copper wire and then driving the hex bit into the socket with a hammer so it wouldn't fall out while I was trying to work on the six bolts inside the cam tower. The hardest bolt to work with overall was the one nearly inline with the brake booster, I had to use a 1/4" drive universal joint on that one (I used all 1/4" drive stuff for this). After removing the alternator I was able to reach my arm between the exhaust manifold and the head. Had to shove a bit to pop my elbow through for the farthest one, but once my arm was in place it was pretty simple. Once all the bolts were out I removed the power steering fluid reservoir and was able to maneuver the cam tower out the front. To keep the valve lifters (?, those silvery cylinders) from falling out of the tower during reinstall I used a long piece of 1" wide masking tape folded over most of the way. I used the little bit of sticky to keep it on the firewall end and held the other side. Then once it was nearly in place I could detach the sticky and pull it out. All in all I had to remove the air box cover, the timing belt cover on that side, the alternator, the PS fluid reservoir (but I didn't detach any hoses), and remove the PS pump at one point for more room. Could've done it in one long day, but I split into two sessions. One thing I messed up was to go back and check all the bolts for tightness a few times. I missed it on the lower set and leaked a bit of oil before going back and tightening them. Hopefully I won't see more oil from that spot later. Oh, and I also had someone to help me. So for anyone who might have this job in their future, don't sweat it.

Mark D.