cam tower concerns

[belizeanbus]

So my 1992 EA82 is about to have its cam towers (if that is indeed the appropriate term for them) reattached. The heads are on and torqued to spec. I've been waiting on that little o-ring that's on the inside of the cam tower, and now that it has arrived, I can proceed.

 

Here's my concerns... I was told previously to seal them to the heads with anaerobic sealant, and that there is no gasket. On the edge of the cam tower that joins with the head, there is an indentation running all the way around the edge, parallel to the edge. It was filled with a rubbery substance, which I removed. I assume since there is no gasket that this is a remnant of the anaerobic sealant. So... is this where I apply this sealant? I ask because after I did a not so perfect job on an oil pan gasket last year, my follow up questions led to a discussion of just how much RTV was necessary. I guess if I had had a better understanding at that point, I might have a few less drops of oil on my driveway. So...the anaerobic sealant...it goes in the little chasm, or not? How much is enough?

 

Next... I believe that those four little teeter-totter type things that fell out when I removed the cam tower are caller rockers???? I read a couple of forums saying to, on the one hand, grease them well, and on the other, coat them with vasoline to get them to stay in place long enough for installation. What's the proceedure here...? Do I grease, then vasoline? Is vasoline good enough. Should I coat the cam in oil before putting on the valve cover gaskets?

 

As always, thanks for having patience with the novices. This thing will be back on the road soon. I can feel it.

 

belizeanbus

[Snowman]

Yes, you apply the sealant to the little groove running around the cam towers. It should fill that cavity and then protrude about as high as the cavity is wide.

 

The rockers need to be prelubricated during assembly to avoid wear at initial startup. Oil, engine assembly grease, or vaseline will all adequately lubricate. Use whatever you need to get them to stick in place. I've had good luck with assembly grease, but some have said that vaseline works better. Make SURE you coat the camshafts and the suface of the rocker that rides on the camshaft liberally with assembly grease. Vaseline will not do for that job.

[hooziewhatsit]

also, when you finally go to put the cam tower onto the head, make sure that the key on the end of the camshaft is straight up. This will allow the cam tower to fully seat on the head firmly holding all the rockers at the same time.

 

If the key is not straight up, the cam tower will rest on rocker somewhere and be a PITA to get on without the rockers falling off. Ask how I know...

[wes200x]

I too agree use assembly lube on and followers to keep them in place while assembling the engine. Also lube all moving parts.

 

As for the sealant I have put many motors together using Threebond 1104 semi drying adhesive. Threebond can be hard to find but if you have a local yamaha motorcycle dealership go in and get a tube of yamabond 4 semi drying adhesive it is made by threebond. This is what is recomended for sealing vw cases together or anything where you need somthing that will stay flexible. I have put multiple motorcycle cases vw cases and EA82 motors together and they have not leaked one drop of oil. Just dispence on a throw away paint brush and aply to all surfaces with a nice thin layer fill the groove in the cam covers and put together. This is what the dealerships use on engine reassembly. Also for a leak free motor use Gaskasinch It is a white can with a vintage pinnup girl on it. This works greak to all gaskets and rubber seals. Works great for extra protection on oil pump seal and valve covers.

[idosubaru]

i'll repeat what he said for confidence. fill the groove and have about a 1/4 inch bead sticking up.

 

if you didn't do any head gasket work then this paragraph doesn't apply. did you do the headgaskets and need to retorque the head bolts? if you need to do a retorque there is no need to appy sealant. you'll have to start the motor, get it to operating temp then turn it off and remove the cam towers again to retorque the heads. in this case, don't waste your time with any sealant on the cam towers, leave them bare and then seal them when you go back in for the retorque. with a retorque you only run it for a little bit before going back in, it won't leak (much).

 

good job replacing that o-ring, it is mucho important and don't put any sealant on it. i know a guy who put sealant all around that oring and it got sucked up his oil ports in short order. horrific lifter noise and he pulled it apart shortly after getting it back together and even took pictures of the lodged sealant blocking the oil passage. probalby not much of a problem if you're using anaerobic sealant (which i think you should), but anyway.

 

on the rocker arms i use a big glob of high quality grease on the rocker arm and place it on the HLA, as it's hanging i rub the grease around the edges thick to hold it in place. this keeps it from falling off. engine lube the rocker arms and all sliding surfaces when you install the cams.

 

if you're doing this with the motor in the car (which you should be or you wouldnt need to grease the rocker arms to hold them in place), get everything out of the way that you can - hoses, wires, atf lines, anything that might get in the way. you don't want to be squeezing the cam tower down there and have something in the way and knock a rocker off or scrape off your great bead of sealant while you're wiggling it in place. i personally like to hold the cam just about an inch away and place the first two top corner cam bolts through the holes and partially thread them, just enough to hold the weight of the cam. then check everything as you gradually torque them down and go for the final press into place. it'll likely move the cam as it pushes the cam into the *resting* position so to speak.

 

EA82's aren't bad at all, much better than the ER27, not much room to work with on that thing.

 

good luck

[idosubaru]

oh and on the oil pans - i wouldn't expect a repeat of that scenario on the rest of the motor. oil pans suck really bad at sealing. some of the gaskets are cheap and suck, but mostly the pans get old and the mating surface gets trashy. dirty, old gasket material, and the biggest problem is the bolt holes become concave upwards and don't provide good clamping force when you install it. the concave gouges the new gasket while not providing for good clamping force between it and the next (also probably concave) oil pan bolt hole. i just installed one of my engines and put sealant on both side of the freaking gasket to hopefully avoid this scenario this time. hope it works, either way the oil pans just suck so you shouldn't have this problem with your cams.

[belizeanbus]

Thanks for all the responses... What is the general concensus on retorquing the bolts that hold the heads on? My Chilton's doesn't mention it. Is this standard proceedure? I would assume that the bolts are somewhat accessible with the engine in the car...belizeanbus

[Snowman]

Bolt retorquing can be a contentious issue. Some say that it's absolutely necessary, others (like myself) would disagree.

 

You can do it with the engine in the car. In order to access the bolts with the cam towers on, you need to either buy or make a special socket. It may be easier just to remove the towers again like grossgary said.

[hooziewhatsit]

Since I had an extra head & cam tower lying around, I did some checking to see if it would be possible to re-torque the HGs without removing the cam tower...

 

I think all it would take is a shortened 17mm socket, and you should be able to get to all of the bolts on both sides. That being said, I was lazy and didn't bother retorquing the HGs I just did a couple months ago