Replacing Cam Pads on 5 chain Boxster 986 WITHOUT removing engine

[boxwrench]

I did this job on my car just a few months before this thread was posted... this is a great write up!

One thing I'd add, having done it, is: make sure you clean, and clean again, and clean some more, any dirt/grime/grease/debris from the top of the heads and valve covers, and from anything that might get bumped or jostled during the job, before you pull the valve covers off. It's very easy to get grime or debris in the heads, and very difficult to get your head in a position to *see* said foreign matter. I will admit I made an error here, but got away with it.

I suppose this is the hardest part of doing the job this way: Keeping everything clean in a space that usually isn't.

During reassembly, I decided to practice placing the valve covers on the heads a few times *dry* before putting the sealant on. It's good to see where you're going to run into trouble first, without actually making a mess. And build some muscle memory.

Don't forget Raby's trick of using lengths of the old scavenge pump o-rings to keep the oil drainback holes at the cam plugs clear of sealant during reassembly. Once you have everything apart it's pretty easy to see how badly things could be fouled by a tiny bit of excess goop in the wrong spot.

Also, it's handy to have a few extra cam end-plugs for just in case your timing turns out to be not-quite spot-on and you have to fiddle with the cam sprockets again.