pls help with rocker remover tool

[johnny27]

Took my std cam out of my 1.2 8 valve, with a rocker remover tool, no real problem. But does anyone know what is the best way to refit the cam? When i press down on the valve with the tool it really only puts the valve side down and not the tappet, making if very difficult to not only put the cam back into the carrier, but to then put on the rockers?
How do i go about doing it, do i have to place cam in the carrier first? Which i imagine would be very fidly to then put the rockers on.
Or do i compress the valve spring one at a time going from right to left, and slowly slip the the cam in as each valve is compresed and rocker fitted.
Its just difficult any way as far as i can see, also the very last valve on the right there is an oil way going down into the head, and the little thrust pad could fall of the valve while compressing (which happens) and i would then have to take the head off after all which defeats the purpose of the rocker remover. Any help appericated, gotta get the car finished by tomorrow.

[Adam]

You have to remove all the rockers to slide the cam in.
And then refit each rocker, by compressing its valve with the tool.
Make sure the crank is not a TDC whilst doing this(turn the crank back about 45ish degrees anticlockwise from its TDC mark(check the location of the piston with a screwdriver down a spark plug hole)
You want the pistons level so no valve can contact a piston when you open them.

Refit all the rockers, you will probably need to rotate the cam to get to some of them.

Once everything is refitted, rotate the cam a few times with a socket to make sure all the rockers etc are seated right.
Then set the cam to TDC.

Now turn the crank clockwise to tdc(no1 piston)

Then refit the cambelt.

[johnny27]

thanks mate, do i fit the thrust pad before i compress the valve, cause when i do the rocker tool wont sit straight and fires the pad off the spring? i am doing something wrong? thanks mate

[Adam]

Yeah, fit the pads before.
You should just be able to get the tool sit correctly without touching the thrust pad.

[johnny27]

Thanks for the help, i can manage it now. I put in all the thrust pads as you said and set the cam in. I found that to stop the rocker remover from slipping and throwing of the thrust pads, i compress the valve springs a little bit at first, i then apply alot of pressure on the thrust pads and spring with a screw driver, to keep it in place. Then i keep the pressure on the thrust pad with the screwdriver, sorta like pushing it towards the little bit on the rocker remover that pushes the valve, and then start to fully compress the valve. once the valve is fully compressed the thrust pad stays in place because of the pressure, plus the rocker remover sorta clamps it slightly. So i can finish of the building of the carrier tomorrow.
But i have a problem, when clamping the first rocker and thrust pad on the No, 4 Cylinder, i tried to be carefull by sticking a couple of rags in the Oil ways located at the very end of each end of the cam carrier. While attempting compressing the valve with the pad on, the first few times before i figured that i'd have to use a screwdriver, the thrust pad would fly off the spring and lucky enough it always landed on the rag.
After i figured how to refit the rockers properly, by reading your replies, and the private message u sent (cheers BTW) plus ALOT of trial and error, i had to remove a little peice of the rag to let the cam slide into the carrier properly cause it was blocking it, sure enough i let one of the thrust pads fall out of my hands and striaght down the oil way.
I was really pissed off as I was thinking now i'm gonna have to take the head off after all! But after looking at a spare block i had in my shed i seen the oilway ran all the way down through the block, or almost all the way, i was having visions of having to take the engine out of the car and start to dismantle it.
But after looking at the spare block again, i located which oilway the thrust pad would have fallen on my engine in the car. So i stuck a long screw driver down the hole on the spare block, and found that the oilway branches into a much smaller hole about half the way down the block, this meant that the pad could only have fallen so far, and would not end up in sump or oil pump. So i have found a little tool, its a very strong magnet on a long telescopic arieal, and it should do the job lovely for getting the thrust pad out. So i probaly won't need to take the head off afterall, so i'm gonna attempt tomorrow to get the thrust pad back out, and finally to fit the cam. If all goes acrodding to plan, within the next few days i'll let you know how the 285 kent cam runs on the little 1.2 Cheers

[Adam]

I lost a few thrust pads inside the head, but luckily they didn't fall down any oilways.
And yep, a magnetic screwdriver saved me too,Lol.

I didn't have any problems at all getting the rockers/pads back in tho, the tool didn't touch the pads so it was easy to refit them. It is a lot easier obviously with the head off, but that means having to drain the coolant etc, buy new headbolts and headgasket.

Before you put call the cam cover etc back on,with the cambelt on, turn a crank a few times, to make sure everything looks fitted correctly and to make sure the timing is right and nothing is hitting a piston. Then recheck the timing marks are aligned, brace yourself and turn the key lol