Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeoboxter
Operation on both videos looks fine to me. What did you find out?
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It's been a saga, to say the least. 3 weeks of pain, but I finally got it back together and working properly over the weekend. I'll spare the details other than to say that the rebuild of the actuator is not all that hard, once you know how to do it.
In my initial research I found zero information, and put out threads here, on rennlist and facebook, and got zero response on the rebuild process and especially bench testing. I ended up just reassembling everything after cleaning out the rubber bits from the side that I could disassemble. I put it all back together, and surprise surprise, it still didn't work. I started looking again, more so for a used actuator to replace mine, and somehow I found all of the information I needed. I found an ebay listing with a rebuild video (it wasn't great, it was just still photos with annotations, but it helped), and then I found someone had posted the mythical Hartech rebuild instructions, and more importantly, a link to a disassembly video with a bench test. While not as detailed as I would have liked, it got me in the right direction.
The main tips I would say are to remove the circlip use the method in the Hartech video with a small screw driver. I struggled with it until I did that and it was so much easier that way. Also after reinstalling the circlip you need to bend the tabs over, for this the method in the ebay video was the key by using needle nose pliers. I didn't do a great job here, but I think it will suffice.
For the bank 1 actuator there are 5 total o-rings/seals. I had 2 of the correct size already in an o-ring kit, I got a pack of 10 for $10 on Amazon that covered 2 of the remaining 3. The last one is a combination o-ring and metal sleeve like assembly that I couldn't source so I just left the one I had alone as it looked fine. I reassembled it and bench tested it as in the video and it appeared to work the same way, so I was pretty happy with that. To bench test you lock the pads with the special tool, then apply air to the lower oil inlet on the solenoid side and it should move it up. I also went so far as to actuate the solenoid to make sure that did what I think it was supposed to and that worked as well.
I put it all back together, again (it's amazing how much easier it is to do the second time, knowing all the mistakes you made the first time!) fired it up and it was perfect (within the margin of error for perfect), and I've driven it fairly hard over the weekend with no issues. My main concern was oil leaks on the valve cover, but so far so good. I have a track day on Thursday so that will be the real test.
These are the links I have that helped. I also downloaded both of the videos locally just in case. I have the PDF from Hartech which is linked in the Rennlist thread as well.
Rennlist link:
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/1403677-variocam-rebuild-part-numbers-3.html
Hartech video:
https://youtu.be/LoH_pgOiuoI?si=GfsWMnYBnlSru1K-
ebay listing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YglhYfqduY
rebuild kit:
https://ebay.io/m/Shbddo
Hopefully this helps someone else.