Camshaft 'tightness' question - fairly urgent!

Hi all

I'm in the process of putting the cylinder head back together on my 1.8 GTi (hydraulic head) and on tightening the caps I'm appalled at how unbelievably tight the camshaft becomes?  

Seems wrong to me.

You cannot turn the thing by hand when the caps are fully down, not torqued just tightened.  When the caps are half way down, the shaft would be able to rotate reasonably freely.

I've got all the right caps in the right order, the valves are all good and relapped, collets in ok.  Have taken it all off again, cleaned any excess oil from under the lifters, put the camshaft back on, made sure it's in the correct no.1 TDC position relative to the engine, made sure the shaft is sitting nicely in the head.  Same thing.

Can someone tell me if this is normal!!!???

If youve got the lifters and valves IN then youve no chance of turning it over by hand as youre attempting to depress against the springs- not going to happen.

If youve any concerns about how tight the running clearances of the cam in its bearings are, you would need to remove the valves, springs and hydros so you can bolt the cam in and then re-check it by hand.
With none of the pressures of the valvegear acting against the cam, you should be able to rotate the cam over between thumb and forefinger.
It shouldnt go tight at any point.

You can also use plastigauge to check the oil clearances ( following the instructions for use) and see how much actual clearance you have there.

I would also strongly suggest you check the camshaft endfloat with a dial gauge or feeler gauges as if thats too slack or too tight itll cause instant trouble.

You can only do these checks with the head disassembled.

Edited to add- youve not got it still bolted to the engine have you? If so it may be that the valves are contacting a piston as you tighten the caps down…if not, disregard this last bit.

Thanks so much mate, that was a brilliant reply! I just wanted to be sure that the cam could not be rotated by hand when assembled on the valvegear as I didn't check this when I took it off.   Now I can continue the reassembly with confidence

Once youve got the cam bearing caps tightened down, try turning the cam with a spanner with the head on its side on the bench.
It will be resistant but it should go over without too much difficulty.
If youre having to hang all your weight on it then somethings not right.

Hope that helps.

Cool beans… why didn't I think of that!  :wink:

...all running beautifully now thanks!