Nut size for cam gear guide pin?

Anyone know what size nut is needed to mount these to the retaining bracket for head installation? I know it’s not technically required but it makes it much less troublesome trying to hoist a heavy head onto the studs. IIRC it has to be a thin jam nut or it won’t thread off once the head is installed, so I need to find a couple.

Duh. Brain hurts…

Can’t work out what you’re referring to.

Photo?

If it’s the pin that sticks forward from the cam vernier thingy I reckon it’s 3/8" UNF. The ones that hold the male brake line fittings are that thread and are half thickness so maybe…

I just put an elastic band across the two pins where they protrude forward of the alloy guide plate. This pulls the sprockets together so the head easily slides down over them.

Cable tie would work as well.

I used safety wire to retain the sprockets and to pull them together. It’s easy to remove. The thin nut is a good idea to prevent the sprockets from sliding off the cam shafts but they wont hold the sprockets inward which is needed to let the head slide over them.

This is what I did and it worked very well.

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Alrighty, wire ties it is. At least I’ll be less likely to fumble finger that into the pan.

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From Dick M’s work on mine… looks like a fat rubber band:

I’m waiting for someone to mention the scalloped cam gears. :smiley:

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Until you just did :rofl:
There’s still a LOT of tooth engagement on what are new cam sprockets.

We all saw it and said a silent prayer for you :wink:

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The rubber is far better because the head might not go all the way down if the sprockets are connected higher up. Safety wire works too. The zip ties look great for keeping the chain to the sprocket but they are not needed. I‘d be worried about losing a nut; a wire won’t disappear and you can wrap it around the threads but the rubber band is most elegant.

Me with the gardening wire that was in reach -

If I managed to get it back together it should be absolutely idiot-proof.

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I have a pair of slim nuts for when the cams come out at valve check time. With the head on any of the other solutions proposed here will not work. If I didn’t already have them I’d go find the nuts.

Why? I got the wire in, just not tight. The rubber band would work great. And I think Erica wants to get it back on.
I know that there is aluminium in the way of a direct connection between the two ‚pins‘, but only just and it worked well enough in my case.

I am intrigued by the water jacket seals on the top (red sealant). Are those original or is that a modification Dick does? Is the idea to still use a cometic gasket?
-Steve-the-Intrigued

I think later engines (S2) lack threads on those pins, hence the use of the rubber band.

No idea, maybe someone here recognizes that gasket.

I think but am not certain that is the Cometic composition style gasket. I’ll know soon as I have one arriving tomorrow.

So many reasons, but let me list just a few.
It is easier to run a nut onto a threaded stud, than insert and twist some wire, (having first cut a length of wire).
I can ‘do’ one cam at a time, removing it, replacing the shims, reinstalling the cam before working on the other side of the car for the other cam.
Nuts are easier to hold using gloved hands. You do wear gloves when working on an engine, don’t you? Modern oils are carcinogenic.
A dropped nut is easier to find than a dropped piece of wire. This of course refers to dropping outside the engine, after all we all stuff rags around the sproket when removing the cam sprocket lockwire, don’t we? And that same rag will catch a nut or piece of wire dropped in the engine. But on the floor? Where did that itty bitty piece of wire go?

Nope, nuts is better than wire, unless the engine isn’t fitted with a threaded stud. In which case I think I’d be running a die onto the stud to cut a thread in very short order.

Of course, YMMV.

Yes, later engines have a groove machined where one could use a c-clip or wire. The gasket is quite common but I don’t know who makes them. Isn’t it Payen? Either way all head gaskets work fine.
Thank you Chris. I guess it depends. I‘m of course guilty of not wearing gloves often, and of dropping things but the wire (or band) just feels safer as it is much longer. I feel it’s easier to handle than a small nut. The nuts alone won’t help, of course, so that band or whatever is still needed.