DIY: exposed cam gears and painted cam cover (56k beware)

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:41 pm

Dunno...sort of got bored with my engine bay and thought exposed cam gears would look way cool.
When I bought my Tighe cams, they came with adjustable cam gears but I didn't install them
as I would have to pull the rocker cover off to access the adjustments. So, how about FFG
kills two birds with one stone, so to speak. (ps. I know the rocker cover has to come off to make adjustments anyway)

This is what my engine bay looked like before:

I went and bought an Astina rocker cover from my local friendly wreckers (cam phone-sorry)

Took it to work and sandblasted it (as well as the adjustable cam gears) again with the cam phone

comparison of inside of rocker cover pre and post blasting

The freshly sandblasted rocker cover (at this stage I thought about polishing it-then I remembered what a PIA it was to do :shock:

)

The spraying of the VHT wrinkle paint was done late at night (big no no) so I heated up the rocker
cover with my heat gun and also used the gun to accelerate the solvent evaporation of the paint.
You can see in the images the wet paint areas and the wrinkled areas. It doesn't take long with a heat gun.
Be aware that even though the paint has \"dried\" and has the desired effect, it is still quite soft and easily scratched.

Now it came time to paint the adjustable cam gears. I also polished up the aluminium centers.

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:44 pm

The new rocker cover had to be modified to work on a north-south motor. I had to change the position
of the breather tube and I also had to fabricate a mount to hold the coil assembly. The original
breather tube poke out where the coils had to mount so I used that hole and did a FFG thread
tap and screwed the new mount there. I also drilled a new hole within the breather box and fitted the original bung.

The new coil assembly bracket with adjustment.

Then it came time to fit the cam gears. Not too hard :mrgreen:

Then it was a matter of putting fresh high temp silicone gasket and mounting/bolting everything up, and fitting new hoses.
And viola!

Fatty · Postby **Fatty** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:40 pm

YOU HAVE DA MAD SKILLZ :shock:

seriously that is very bloody impressive, looks totally awesome!!

does the astina cover fit the na6 ???? guessing not?

fattima · Postby **fattima** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:12 pm

Looking good! Nice work

Not trying to be a picky, but did you sandblast the inside of the rocker cover? Heard of problems with blasting compound stuck in the alloy and then releasing not good in an engine.

Fatty a 1.6 model one might fit.

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:38 pm

fattima wrote:Looking good! Nice work

Not trying to be a picky, but did you sandblast the inside of the rocker cover? Heard of problems with blasting compound stuck in the alloy and then releasing not good in an engine.

Fatty a 1.6 model one might fit.

yup. I did blast the inside as it was stained with burnt oil etc and gave me the irrits.
I had all the breather boxes removed and I used compressed air to blow out everything so
hopefully it will all be cool. But that is a very good point you have raised. maybe I should
pull it all off and high pressure wash the inside.....but i know how lazy I am, and i think I got it all anyway.

Ddi ya notice my new relocated oil filter next to the throttle body? :mrgreen:

no more skinned knuckles.

AJ · Postby AJ » Fri May 02, 2008 8:47 pm

fastfreddygassit wrote:
no more skinned knuckles.

except from where they drag on the ground

*runs away really fast*

fattima · Postby **fattima** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:48 pm

Ddi ya notice my new relocated oil filter next to the throttle body? Mr. Green
no more skinned knuckles.

Yeah I did notice that, very nice. No more skinned knuckles, your getting soft in your old age.

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Fri May 02, 2008 10:28 pm

AJ wrote:
fastfreddygassit wrote:
no more skinned knuckles.

except from where they drag on the ground

*runs away really fast*

you seem to forget that I know where you live and I know exactly how to get there.
It was on the GPS when I bought it off you....

knock bloody knock knock

:mrgreen:

pmsl

AJ · Postby AJ » Fri May 02, 2008 10:33 pm

sh*t......................................LMFAO :lol:

i just got pwned didn't i? :mrgreen:

wun911 · Postby **wun911** » Fri May 02, 2008 10:34 pm

I'm only impressed because the new cam cover weighs less than stock. There is also savings in the 2 chrome bolts, the little metal pipe, and the other bit of metal that covers the bottom of the timing belt. I estimate its a total saving of about 0.3 kg.

Stu · Postby **Stu** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:55 am

That looks strangely familiar :?:

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Sat May 03, 2008 10:41 am

Stu wrote:That looks strangely familiar

It does, doesn't it?
Well for me it reminds me of one of my favourite cars, the mk1&2 Lotus Escort with the Cosworth motor
*sigh*
I had a mocked up mk1 with the fg front intakes and the bumperettes etc etc blah blah blah
Jeez, the twin cam motor was a thing of beauty

So now when I lift the bonnet I can pretend :mrgreen:

ps, Bruce has a real one for sale...I just don't have enough money :frown:

fattima · Postby **fattima** » Sat May 03, 2008 5:56 pm

[/quote]ps, Bruce has a real one for sale...I just don't have enough money Frowning Frowning[quote]

Looks like it could be sold, have a guy coming down from Sydney he seems fairly keen.