Fitting cam towers

[Inf]

I bought a rebuilt e88 with new guides, steel seats and everything. It has no cam, cam towers, no rockers fit to it so I was planning on moving those parts from another e88 (taking care to remember what rocker came from where). I was reading up and all the manuals I have recommended marking the cam tower position since they have to be fit in an exact position, but I don't really have access to the kind of tools they were recommending if these marks are not there:stupid:. I may just take both heads to a shop and ask them to do it. How much do you think that should cost to do so I don't get ripped off? Or is there any way for me to do this on my own?

Andrew

[LanceM]

You could try leaving the cam in place and moving the towers as a set. Bolt them in place and see if the cam turns freely or if it binds. Probably not the best way to do it though...

Taking the towers off a head and then putting them back on the same head is one thing, moving them to another I would think that they would need to be line bored.

Just my $.02

[Phred]

Yes, you can do this yourself. I have swapped many cam tower sets onto other heads. Consider: the towers have a dowel around each bolt, the top of the head is flat (hopefully), so the towers shouldn't care what there bolted to. Do what Lance suggested, and be carefull to torque the bolts to 12 lbs. min., not to exceed 14 lbs. Also put a little engine oil on the threads, a bolt should never be torqued into aluminum with dry threads.

Phred

[Victor Laury]

This is while the head is intalled at full torque,

Install towers, don't tighten more than 1/4 the torque spec. install the cam with no followers and light oil. loosen the bolts on the last tower to "snug" strike the front of the cam with a plastic hammer. And tighten the bolts to 1/2 torque spec. Repeat on all the towers, striking the furthest end of the cam from the tower your setting. Then bring all the towers to full torque.

Now here's the most important step.

If the cam does not spin, Stop. There ar times when the head has been machined on the bottom side only. This results in a flat bottom but a curved top. A good machine shop will set it up right, and you won't bust a new cam (and bend valves and hole pistons and .. and ... )

If it does feel nice-nice, remove the cam and replace the light oil with the manufactures suggested build-lube.

[Inf]

Thanks for the replies guys, I will try out what you guys suggested. I am really looking forward to working on this once the summer semester is over. I think i'm probably going to spend most of my next paycheck on getting myself setup with some good metric craftsman tools, they have a 140 piece metric mechanic set that seems like a good start. I'm tired of these taiwan-made tools i've been using over the years! None of the sizes ever seem to be quite as snug as the few craftsman pieces I have around, and they certainly aren't near as durable.

Andrew

[240Zdragon72]

I have a question about the tower shims. The head that I have for my second Z is a E88. The towers and the cam were pulled from the head and the guy said that he forgot where or how many shims each of the towers had. The head was rebuilt at the local shop. If I take the rest of the parts (lifters, lashpads, towers, shims, and cam) to them, you would think they would be able to put it back on? I guess all I can do is take it on Monday and ask? I would hope it is as simple as you guys say it is. :stupid:

[Phred]

Brian,

Your local shop should have numbered the cam towers before disassembly. I really get frustrated with the brain cell challenged people out there calling themselves engine machinists.

All cam towers should have the same number and thickness of shims under each tower. They are usually .015 thick, and commonly use two under each tower.

If they were not numbered, you can figure out where they go by process of elimination. Obviously, #1 has the holes for the locating plate.The rear tower has a "R" cast on the front lower side of the tower. The other three are the same casting with provision for the spray bar. If these were not numbered, the only thing you can do is play musical chairs with their location. Bolt down and torque #1 and #5 and one of the center towers to 12 lbs. with the cam in place and oil on the bearing surfaces. tighten evenly while checking the cam for ease of rotation. If the cam won't turn when tight, remove and relocate the tower to the next position and check again. do this with the center three towers till the cam turns freely when all towers are installed and torqued. Then the rockers (which were hopefully numbered) can be installed. Good luck, and always ask your machinist if they have experiance with the engine in question. Then if they screw it up, they will have to fix it properly with no extra charge to you.

Phred

[240Zdragon72]

Thanks a lot Phred, I would not know where to start without the help of you guys. My only problem is the previous owner pulled it himself. So, I don't think he might have numbered the rockers. I'll have to play around with it when I get to it.

Thanks again! :nervous:

[240Zdragon72]

Found all the hardware for the cam. Everything has a lot of surface rust on it. What can I do to clean them up? Any house hold cleaners work well?

[Bambikiller240]

Steel Wool and Elbow Grease?

Hopefully no rust on the camshaft journals.

[240Zdragon72]

Steel Wool and Elbow Grease?

Hopefully no rust on the camshaft journals.

I don't remember seeing any on them. What if there is? New Cam? I'll have to go home tonight and post a pic for you Carl. It will be a PM.

[Bambikiller240]

Brian, you can't attach pics to a PM.

If the camshaft bearing journals (where the cam fits in the cam towers) are rusty, I think I'd look for better ones, if the cam shaft is rusty, I'd get a different cam.

Phred may give different advice, if so take his advice over mine.