The Maestro's Quiz, June 1997


     Like the Maestro always says- you ain't NEVER gonna
"see it all". 'Cause there's always something new under
the Sun for you to see.

     Take for example the 1964 356C Original Engine that walked
in the door in 5 boxes courtesy of UPS. (It actually arrived when the
Maestro was Back East, across the river from Bean Town,
attending his College Reunion and he won't mention what number).

     Soooooo, when he got back from the first two-week vacation in two
years, the Maestro quickly unpacked the boxes and found the Important Parts
to a 1964 356C- with its Virgin, Blackened Heads.
(Didn't know that for a time, lowly 356 "C's" got the Blackened "SC" Heads
too, did you? Didn't read "The ABC's" when you had the chance, huh?)

     Anyhow, in the five easy boxes were the pieces of the engine were
a VERY Dirty Case, A very dirty but Nice Standard "C" crank. A nice 
set of ".01" "C"/SC/912 rods, a rather rusty 200mm Flywheel, and a 
356C Cam with attached cam gear, just Oozing crude.

     The Maestro put on his Surgical Gloves and dumped the
Case, Crank, rods and Flywheel into his Super-Duper Cleaner to
start the cleaning/healing process.

     But as he grabbed the Camshaft to remove the gear, he noticed something
Unusual.

     The Cam Gear was missing a Dowel Pin!

     Now, the Maestro's told you the Tale(s) of Cam gears installed
by rather vacuous owners/mechanics who stick the cam gear
onto the alignment dowels in the camshaft, but then FORGET TO
INSTALL THE BOLTS! 

     Needless to say, those Cam Gears held on by only the dowel
pins don't stay on for long, so the Cam Gears CAME OFF!

     Whenever a cam gear comes off in a running engine, Bad Things
happen. One of which is the engine stops. And will not start again.
     
     As the Maestro was eyeballing the old oil encrusted
Cam Gear of the Original Virgin 1964 356C, he noticed one Verry Unusual Thing.
There around ONE dowel pin of the Cam Gear was a Certain Unmistakable
Sign that a Cam Gear Dowel Pin had beat feet.

     First evidence was that the Cam Gear Dowel Pin ain't
there no mo'! It was gone! Skipped Town. Vamoosed. 

     Secondary evidence was a well-formed Horizontal Cylindrical
Groove that the dowel pin made on its way out!

     Yes, ONE of the Dowel Pins had left, but all three of the Cam Bolts were 
there!

     Uh, Oh, thought the Maestro. What have we here? Another Turkey Rebuild?

     It was then that the Maestro's Center of Higher Reasoning
flashed on the fact that this was an ORIGINAL ENGINE, having
never been apart since it left the Factory!

     Know what that means?

     It means that the Factory MADE A BOO-BOO!

     And what was that Boo-Boo?

     How can ONE Cam Dowel Pin say bye-bye in a Factory-Installed, Original 
Engine?

     That is the Question.




     Give up? The Maestro did too, and began to separate
the Cam Gear from the Camshaft, at least he could process the cam 
through the cam grinder for Transformation into a MaestroMassaged cam.

     First he pried up the Original retainers from around the three
bolts heads.

     Since it was a 356, then he got out his 14mm wrench to remove the 14mm ATF,
8mm Cam Gear Bolts (912's use 13mm ATF 8mm bolts).

     He psychologically prepared his body for the effort required to remove
these bolts, assumed the position, grabbed the cam gear with one 
rag-enclosed left hand and urged his right hand down on the wrench.

     WHAM! His hand plowed into the edge of the bench. Painfully.

     "M%$^&*-F%&^#$-B*@$#&@" said the Maestro.
     
     When he calmed down he realized that he had FOUND THE problem, painful
though it might be.

     Clearly, the Mechanic on the Factory's Assembly line had NOT TIGHTENED
the Cam gear Bolts down enough! (It is sometimes equally painful to tighten
the cam gear bolts down- especially when the wrench slips off
the Bolts and your hand slips into the cam gear teeth. Those teeth can
BITE! Don't ask me how I know.)

     And since the Porsche Factory Mechanic had not tightened down the
Cam Gear Bolts as much as he should have, after a mere 120,000 miles,
they loosened up- enough so that one dowel pin
began to "wiggle" its way out of the cam.

     Which is when the Owner heard a "Knock", and decided to tear the engine
down immediately.

     Damn good thing he did too!

     Fortunately the wayward dowel pin did almost no damage to the engine.
(There was a little "wowie" on the side of the oil pump housing
protrusion, but it was no big deal.)

     Fortuitous too was the Owner's Decision to overhaul, for
both of the other two dowel pins were merrily wearing their
way through the Magnesium cam gear, and would have follower their friend and
fellow escapee, probably doing significantly more damage
to things inside the Third Piece (You can only pull on
Murphy's Tail for so long until he turns around and bites you!)

     So yes Gentle Reader- even the Factory (or the Factory's engine builders)
made mistrakes occasionally. This is why you should double and
TRIPLE check your work when you work on your 356.

     This is also why you must:

KEEP THE 356 FAITH!!!