removing cam seal(the hard way)

[SHOtime2511]

ive got a set of heads that im going to use on the 3.2L im building.
problem is that the person these heads these before,RTV'd the cam seals in,and i cant get them out.they just come out in small pieces.

i need ideas?
is there somthing i can use to maybe disolve the rubber and RTV???

 

[93rev2sev]

acetone? and maybe a brass brush

 

[SHOtime2511]

acetone? and maybe a brass brush

is the brass soft enough as to not scratch the mating surface?

 

[ShadetreeSHOguy]

id say shoot it w/a potato gun, but hey, that's why im a shadetree mechanic

 

[93rev2sev]

ya, brass is soft...thats why I specified it. You could try scraping the bulk of it out with some sort of stiff plastic jabby-doo.

 

[AREA 91]

I use RTV on all my cam seals.

 

[SilSho95]

Are you supposed to use RTV on the cam seals?

 

[AREA 91]

I put a light coating of RTV on the outside of the cam seal. The RTV fills in between the outer portion of the camshaft seal, where it meets the head. Is it overkill, mabye. Have I ever had one leak, no.

 

[Mr95Gl]

I put a light coating of RTV on the outside of the cam seal. The RTV fills in between the outer portion of the camshaft seal, where it meets the head. Is it overkill, mabye. Have I ever had one leak, no.

Never thought of that, however be forewarned that you are driving a SHO. It will FIND a way to leak! But seriously, how many miles have you put on said seal?

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

ive got a set of heads that im going to use on the 3.2L im building.
problem is that the person these heads these before,RTV'd the cam seals in,and i cant get them out.they just come out in small pieces.

i need ideas?
is there somthing i can use to maybe disolve the rubber and RTV???

Why do you want to remove the seals? They don't have many miles on them.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Why do you want to remove the seals? They don't have many miles on them.

well i figured if i have to buy a whole upper gasket set,i might as well.
plus if they did start to leak while the motor was in the car i would never be able to remove the seal.

 

[SHOtime2511]

problem solved!,after removing the lash caps above each cam seal,i was able to dig them out!

 

[AREA 91]

I've done at least 7 SHO engines this way with thousands of miles.

 

[SHOtime2511]

I've done at least 7 SHO engines this way with thousands of miles.

yeah i think ill use some RTV when i put some new ones in,it just looks so prone to leaking

 

[AREA 91]

I can tell you that when my buddy did his cam seals, he had a light coating of engine oil on them. He thought this would help with installing then, which it did. Exactly 7 miles later the seal shot out. R & R'd the seal with a light coating of rtv, and all is well. That was 6 years ago.

 

[Eric VerValin]

Where did you put it exactally? Around the outside edge of the seal?