Replacing Cams

[Hy300]

Alright, I have a set of the KL-ZE cams. Damn things have been torturing me for weeks as I can never set down a time to get them in and they've been covered in cosmoline. I tried getting my neighbor to help me but he doesn't think he can do it with the timing belt where it is.<P>So I've decided to find a shop that can help me replace my stock K8 cams, 120K mi, with the KLZE cams, 16K mi. My question is, is there a way to replace the cams without removing the engine? I want to get the cams in otherwise I just have to sit on them till a rebuild in the spring. Is there a way to put them in and have them properly positioned so that I don't swallow a valve when I try starting it up?

[jaydog5678]

I actually broke a cam gear trying to put the cams back in a KL-03. Don't ask how I did but this was several years ago while learning on a donated engine at school. <P>You can do with the engine in the car, no problem. You have to retime the timing belt and swap the cam gears over obviously. Just follow the removal and installation procedures in a shop manual. Pay attention to the old cams coming out in relation to the KL-ZE one's going in.

[Hy300]

Thats a relief. I have the cams with the gears on them. I don't have the camshaft pulley though, would I need to replace that? I'm reading from the shop manual here, which is about what I'll be using along with a little help from some friends.<P>I really want to do this myself, get in a bit of time with my engine.<p>[ October 24, 2002: Message edited by: Hy300 ]

[David Coleman]

Yeah, just yank your belt covers, intake manifold, valve covers, and you'll see what you need to do from there. Air tools make getting the Cam pulley off the cam alot easier, cause they wont come off with that pulley on there [I've tried]. Or you can sometimes brace a monkey wrench against something hard and durable[like not the other camshaft] and break it lose with a good breaker bar and a hammer.

[Hy300]

My biggest fear is screwing up the placement and bending or swallowing a valve. My friend can help with the timing, but he's only worked on carburated engines. He said I'd need a timing gun that plugs into the computer and can tell me the proper timing. Is there any way I can be sure of the alignment of the cams when I put them in.<P>Best way to learn is the hard way. But I don't want to hurt my baby.

[David Coleman]

Read the manual. Chapter B2. It has step by step how you need to do it. You dont really need a timing gun, or any computer do dads.

[David Coleman]

Also, you can have a valve all the way down and the piston all the way up, with no contact. But if you time it right, you'll never be anywhere close to that. Just take your time and think slow.

[Hy300]

Thanks David, thanks everyone, I'll let you know how everything turns out.<p>[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Hy300 ]

[chance]

David, are you saying the K series engines are noninterference? I didn't know that.

[ProtegeSTS]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by chance:<BR><STRONG>David, are you saying the K series engines are noninterference? I didn't know that.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>All Mazda engines other than the F2 are non-interference engines.

[Hy300]

You're confusing me, what's non-interferance.

[voltaire]

Basicly it means that your valves can't crash into your pistons thus causing damage. If it weren't non-interference there would most likely be damage when you break a timing-belt. Like in a Honda...

[Hy300]

WHOO HOOO!<BR>No more fears