The local machine shop that installed my new valve seats removed the cam towers from my cylinder head. He said that the Haynes manual was wrong, and that so long as I was careful to re-align the cam shaft correctly when I reassembled the head there shouldn't be any problem. (He did mark the towers for position and re-attach them finger tight before giving me back the head.)

(See similar comments by JMT240KGTR in a previous post.)

BUT for some reason, perhaps related to their stand on not removing the things..., the Haynes manual does not list a torque setting for the bolts that hold the things in place.

I have the cam back in the head, and it is lined up perfectly as near as I can tell. It turns freely, just like when I took the head apart. I am absolutely paranoid about stripping bolts on an aluminum head (been there, done that...) so I have only torqued the bolts to 13 lb-ft (1.8 Kg-m) which is the torque setting recomended for the fuel pump. (It is a similar sized bolt.)

Does anyone know the correct torque setting for these bolts?

See this thread.... I knew I had seen one somewhere....

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3174&highlight=Cam+tower+torque

Cool,

12 to 15 lb-ft... So I guessed right for once!

Whew!