Hi Folks, I am in the process of stripping down the 996 to get it painted from the frame upwards. Anyway, whilst the frame is away at the powder coaters, I am tackling the painting of the engine. I have stripped most the ancillaries off and now need to remove the plates/covers that sit behind the belts so I can paint it properly. My questions is whether it is easier to remove the belts and then.... a) Remove the cams and the pulleys as single item (i.e. with the pulley still attached to the camshaft). Can I remove both intake and exhaust without any issues? and then remove the tensioners and then (I assume) just undo the rear covers) or.... b) Remove the Pulleys themselves and leave the cams in situ? Then remove the tensioners and undo the covers? I assume if I remove the pulleys I will have to renew the castle nuts however if I remove the cams, I am assuming there is nothing extra to replace to remove and reinstall? I changed the belts last winter. I guess I could just leave everything in situ and paint around it but my OCD suggests it wouldnt be as good job if I did that Cheers
You don't need to remove the cams/pulleys to get the (under) belt covers off. The top part of the (under) cover is also the rocker pin cover which comes out with cams in place and for the main parts you only need to remove the tensioner pulleys. However it is easier to remove the entire cam than the pulley plus you need to do this anyway if you want to check the rockers.
+1 for what DukeDesmo said. Recently had to take the heads of my ST4s and it is easiest to just leave the cam pulleys as is until you have the heads separated. It may be best to do the same for painting purposes.
Thanks folks. All quite simple in the end. Removed the belts, removed the cams with the covers and pulleys intact. Now left with some large holes to mask off ready for painting. As a side question, anyone know what colour the covers (valve covers, cam covers etc ) are painted - looks like a metallic green/grey colour....ish.
