engine and drivetrain M10 cam change WITHOUT the special tool...

[Burleigh]

I'm in a hurry to get the '69 back on the road by this weekend for the Rogers meet...

With four broken rocker arms and a broken stud in the head it was time to replace it. So I removed the old head and the head from a spare motor I had in the garage. Upon inspecting the head from the spare motor, I was pleased to see that it was a fairly recent rebuilt head. It was very clean with hardly any buildup on the valves and it was pocket ported and gasket matched... The cam looked aftermarket, but not really up to the higher compression, dual Webers, headers and such... SO, I wanted to keep the Shrick 292 cam from the old head.

However, having never changed a cam on any BMW engine before, I had to do a little research before getting started. Turns out, you are supposed to have this nifty little tool to move the rockers out of the way while someone else carefully removes the cam. In fact, you have to have at least THREE of the nifty little tools...

Needless to say, I don't have ANY of those nifty little tools and I didn't have any extra hands sprout from my sides recently either...

So here is what I came up with after thinking about it all day at work. I adjusted all the rockers as you normally would except I tightened them all the way down on the cam. Then I turned the cam until one of the valves was opened all the way and gently stuffed a shop rag between the valve and the valve seat with a flat screw driver. This way when the cam rotated the valve stayed open. I did this four more times on other valves until the cam was free from all valve spring pressures. Obviously you don't have to do all of them as some of the lobes will be facing down while the others are opening valves... Now that I had the cam somewhat free. I backed the valve adjustment all the way off to give even more clearance from the cam. The old cam slid right out and the Shrick slid right in! After securing the new cam, I rotated it to open up all the valves that had rags holding them open and removed the rags one at a time.

Here are a couple pics to illistrate:

[skipsfcr]

Like the old saying goes..."Necessity is the mother of invention" or in my world "necessity is a mother..." Outstanding work!

[Burleigh]

in my world "necessity is a mother..."

No doubt Skip!

Will you be in Rogers this weekend? Even If I don't get the '69 running I'll be there either with someone else or on the bike...

[Napes]

That gets the "Shadetree Mechanic of the Day" award. Well done.

Bob Napier

[Burleigh]

That gets the "Shadetree Mechanic of the Day" award. Well done.

Bob Napier

HA HA! Thanks!

I sent the pics to a friend and he said, I quote: "I'm calling you if I ever break down in the sticks!"

[skipsfcr]

Yup, we're planning on driving up Friday afternoon. I hope you get the beast running. Look forward to meeting up either way!

[Burleigh]

Yup, we're planning on driving up Friday afternoon. I hope you get the beast running. Look forward to meeting up either way!

See you there!

BTW Skip...

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"

-Ben Franklin

[tim385]

That looks like a good idea , I am a tiler by trade and we use these small plastic wedges for adjusting the gaps between tiles , I used them in a similar way ..opened the valve right up put some plastic wedges under the valve till all were done then pulled out the cam ...easy.

[kbmb02]

Great imagination and execution, too.

It strikes me particularly-strongly right now as I'm working on a project for a non-profit that ponders/suggests that we (humans, in the current day) are losing the ability to solve mechanical problems due to our overuse of 'virtual' tools (and less use of our hands) .... your solution proves there's still hope.

-KB

[Cameron]

Very awesome! Similar to a trick to change the valve shims on my motorcycle - take off the carbs and header and shove zipties in between the valve and the seat add a little clearance when you change the shim.

Sure beats taking out the rockers and shafts!

[Guest]

That's good! I've also never changed a cam on the M10, but I always wondered why people said you needed the tool since none of the volvo guys mention it with the 8v redblock.

I love seeing simple things like this, although I wish the said people were closer so I could meet them...It's nice to compare techniques/work with people of a similar mechanical understanding. The modern day utter lack of understanding how simple mechanical things work really makes me sad, I used to work in a bike shop and people would ask me how to raise their seat...I cried a little on the inside every time I heard a question like that.

One that I think is a real genius idea I saw on turbo bricks. Short backstory, 89-93 volvo 240's are bosch LH2.4 which is a smart system so it continues to learn components aka you can throw on 75lb injectors from the stock 20 something and after a tank or two of gas it will have everything sorted. However it requires a 60-2 sensor on the flywheel. Said flywheels are dual mass and stupidly heavy(like 27lbs), solution build a horizontal drill press and mount flywheel to wheel hub and drill indents on a single mass 18lb flywheel.

This is of absolutely no use to an '02, but creative none the less. Some other forum I ran across had a thread for custom made tools and "cheap tricks" like the above rag solution. I think that might be a good thread for the faq.

[Burleigh]

That looks like a good idea , I am a tiler by trade and we use these small plastic wedges for adjusting the gaps between tiles , I used them in a similar way ..opened the valve right up put some plastic wedges under the valve till all were done then pulled out the cam ...easy.

That's funny, that is the first thing that came to mind, but I didn't have any of them. There were a pile of rags sitting on the work bench next to me as that went through my head though... LOL!

[AndyS]

Hell, I shouldn't have given you the head gasket just to see if you could make one out of a blanket! he he

[Burleigh]

Hell, I shouldn't have given you the head gasket just to see if you could make one out of a blanket! he he

LOL!!!

Thanks again for the gasket! I'll be installing it tonight...

[Mike Self]

will go in the next column I do about "repair tricks the factory never thought of."

Burleigh, drop me an e-mail so I can properly attribute your trick.

cheers

mike