unknown IP settings??

[guy plain]

set by the marks ... not by a dial gauge....dont have the adapter yet....i hear snapon sells them tho... maybe next payday..

[Toby]

That is called NOT timing it. The marks tell you almost nothing. Just that you are close enough to set the timing. Do you have the cam lock?

FWIW: Don't buy the stuff off the Snap-Off truck. It is vastly cheaper buying that stuff online. The Snap-Off cam lock that I have is also pretty fragile. I broke one of the welds on it breaking a cam bolt loose. I have mangled the Kraut ones and never broken anything.

[8v-of-fury]

I broke one of the welds on it breaking a cam bolt loose. I have mangled the Kraut ones and never broken anything.

Your lucky you broke the cam lock.. and not the end off your camshaft. The cam lock is NEVER to be used as a lock to remove the cam bolt. The fragile cast part that is the camshaft was never meant to have such twisting stresses on it.

[ORCoaster]

We have a picture of the result of that kind of removal already now don't we?  And who's hamming it now like a noob?? 

[Toby]

The notch in the back of the cam is more than strong enough take the torque of loosening the bolt and it is the only way to tighten it w/o disturbing your settings. The lock plate broke, not the cam. I have done this hundreds of times in the last 25 years and never broken the cam. I have had somebody push the remote start button with he cam lock installed. That one snapped 1/2 of the thrust surface off but did not break the lock. It was a Schley IIRC.

[maxfax]

I have done this hundreds of times in the last 25 years and never broken the cam.

Consider yourself nothing more than lucky 100x

[Toby]

I just took a look at the 5grand "Official Factory Repair Manual" from Bentley sitting next to the computer and guess what? It says to tighten the cam sprocket with the cam lock plate installed. It prompts you to remove the plate one the belt is tight.

[maxfax]

Indeed it does..  But what the factory service manual does not take into consideration is the person who put the thing together and cranked the bolt too tight, slapped loctite on it, hundreds heating and cooling cycles coupled with 20 some years, or a plain ole seized bolt..  For the 100's you (and I for that matter) have not broken using the lock, there's just as many where the the cam did break...

[Toby]

Have you ever broken a cam doing it? Have you ever seen anybody break a cam doing it? Or have you just seen broken cams ans ASSumed that they got broken that way?

[Toby]

Well since I have 25 years doing it the way VW recommends and my score is 100 to nothing, I doubt that I will be posting that any time soon.

[maxfax]

I've had about a dozen break while loosening..  Watched about 2 or 3 others being broken.. And have sold a pile of used cams to those who have broken them, although I can't say for sure on all of them whether is was assembly or disassembly that broke em.. I'm pretty confident that those that broke had something done improperly at some point.. At least 3 had loctite..  Maybe your nice Phoenix weather makes the come apart much nicer..  

[R.O.R-2.0]

I've had about a dozen break while loosening..  Watched about 2 or 3 others being broken.. And have sold a pile of used cams to those who have broken them, although I can't say for sure on all of them whether is was assembly or disassembly that broke em.. I'm pretty confident that those that broke had something done improperly at some point.. At least 3 had loctite..  Maybe your nice Phoenix weather makes the come apart much nicer..  

phoenix weather is much like the weather in seattle..

[Toby]

I expect you have to be very ham handed to actually break the cam. If you need a cheater bar to get the bolt loose then probably using the cam tool to break the bolt loose is ill advised. It may well be that it does have to do with the weather. Those who live in the Land of Road Salt may be at greater risk of the bolt not coming off at anywhere near its normal torque. No road salt in Seattle until very recently.

I have seen numerous broken cams but all were attributable to hitting the starter with the cam plate still installed.

A broken thrust surface does not necessarily render the cam unusable. The one that I broke by leaning on the remote start switch went another 100K miles that way. I always meant to swap it out but never got around to it. No excess wear noticeable on the head at 100K miles either.

[maxfax]

I'd guess the road salt is a player in the equation..  Damn stuff get's everywhere..

A couple of the cams I broke snapped pretty easily with a plain ole box end wrench... Possibly cracked/weakened from previous shenanigans?? The 90 degree impact wrench has been a good investment for this so far...

The one in my Rabbit I have now is broken, but has been running in there for years with no issue.. It's just missing a small chink though, not even into the bearing surface..  Someday I'll find the SOB that felt the need to loctite EVERYTHING on that car.. 

[R.O.R-2.0]

I'd guess the road salt is a player in the equation..  Damn stuff get's everywhere..

A couple of the cams I broke snapped pretty easily with a plain ole box end wrench... Possibly cracked/weakened from previous shenanigans?? The 90 degree impact wrench has been a good investment for this so far...

The one in my Rabbit I have now is broken, but has been running in there for years with no issue.. It's just missing a small chink though, not even into the bearing surface..  Someday I'll find the SOB that felt the need to loctite EVERYTHING on that car.. 

seems like theres 3 kinds of mechanics:

the ones who lock-tite everything.

the ones who never-seize everything.

and the ones who just dont care.. lol.