Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I'm waiting on the photos back from my mechanic, but I've got that sinking feeling in my stomach...

Apparently the chain has been running loose enough to gouge the inside of the cam cover. I don't have the file with me at the moment, but I guess it's possible it's never been changed in 22 years and 114,000 miles. At least I asked him to take a look at the cam chain, though I was only expecting a couple of new slipper pads.

I really love the car when it's running well, but this isn't even one of the scary expensive jobs I was expecting to do in the next few years...

Does anyone have tips on sourcing 968 cams at a good price?

If you have missing teeth, then there are a couple of companies who have successfully set up a method of repair, but I have never used them. I think one is JMEngineering in the states.

The chain itself is very cheap, the pads are expensive for what they are, but not in the grand scheme of things.

About a year ago I sold one of my 968's and during a pre sale check we found that a couple of the teeth were hooked and looked set to break free.. I think we paid just short of £500 each for the cams plus vat, which was eye watering, especially as the car was being sold.. But better safe than sorry etc.

I was even prepared to buy a complete head with cams, but what the usual breakers wanted worked out as much as I could buy a whole 968 engine on ebay for.. But of course with an ebay engine you have a chance the cams are already trash

If the cams/head are mullered it's an ideal time to convert to an 8v turbo, or sell it cheap to me and I'll do it .

pauly, the 8v turbo conversion will have to wait for another day.

Thanks Jon.

The cams themselves look fine. The tooth profiles that are visible look good. It hasn't slipped so the rest should be fine. Phew.

Am I right in thinking that with enough slack in the chain to gouge the inside of the cam cover the tensioner is shot? The mechanic thinks so. The price for a new cam chain tensioner is one which requires taking a breath before hearing and the prices I've seen for reconditioning are higher than replacing with new.

I guess it's time to look at it as an investment in having a healthier engine than it has been for years and suck it up. The respray can wait.

I would think 'not necessarily' as it could just be pad wear, chain stretch and general cam teeth wear, not the tensioner. In fact, as the chain is being forced up to touch the cam cover it appears that the tensioner and variocam solenoid are operating correctly? Perhaps someone else with more experience of this mechanism can offer an opinion here?

Maybe just replacing the pads and chain will bring it back enough?

In the meantime, have a look at this link, it provides a lot of useful background information and several good photos to compare against:

http://www.22mm.cn/porsche/manual2/p_96 ... ection.pdf

Hope it helps..

Awesome link and comments, Rhett. Thanks! I'll take a closer look at the tensioner.