Hey, I'm replacing the headgasket on my DOHC ZC and I need to take off the cams to get to the bolts holding the head to the block. Thing is, the arches that are labled E1-E6 and I1-I6 (exhaust and intake, respectively) which cover the cams (some people call them 'cam covers') just do not want to come out. I've taken both 10mm bolts out of each, and no matter how much I wiggle them around to work them out, they just don't want to come off. I've gotten 2 off so far, but that took me over an hour . Does anybody have an tips to get these things off?

Appreciated.

 

light taps on both sides with a rubber malet...then keep wiggling

 

I spent 30 minutes wiggling and tapping one of those things, then said **** it and grabbed a pair of pliers. Put a layer of foam rubber to keep them from scarring the arches, then yanked it out. Dude, I don't it would have been possible to exert that kind of force without tools--those things were in there GOOD. Anyways, Thanks for the advice.

 

Cam cover is a pretty common alternate name for the valve cover, actually.

 

I'm more familiar with rocker cover, but then again I'm also more familiar with old-school OHV V8s, which incidentally get two of them. (OHV = Overhead Valve, for those that haven't heard the term before.) I suppose the parts in question would be called cam bearing caps, but I don't know for sure.

 

yeah, bearing caps is the name of the game.

For a deeper history lesson, the reason OHV (the overhead valve engines) is such a big deal is thanks to the seriously old school flat head engines. Back in the day, the valves used to be off to the lower side of the combustion chamber, opening up. The heads where literally a flat peice of cast iron.

 

I have a flathead engine.....on my lawnmower LOL! Briggs & Stratton baby yeah!!!!!

 

Oh, and since there aren't any actual "rocker arms" per se in a DOHC, I guess I can't call them "rocker covers"


How low were they? Were these flat head engines basically an upside-down over-head valve engine, with the oil on top? Sorry, the logistics of this are a bit foreign to me

 

Bored as I am, I made a picture.

Note how huge the combustion chamber had to be. They where generally low compression engines because of this, plus the flow from the side mounted valves sucked. The engine is oiled normally, by crankcase spash and oil galleys.

Then along came overhead valve engines, and cars became significantly faster.

 

nice picture