Thanx for your responses both Mike and Steve... I also emailed Mark "rule 308"…

My guess is that the last person in there used some kind of sealant or gasket maker / glue when they last installed the existing seal. I fear that they perhaps scored either the seat or journal themselves last time, and used the sealant to “fill in the gap”. I am experienced enough (I think) to conclude there is no way that what I have encountered is normal, or routine. The problem is, once I got started, the old seal was shot, so I have to see this through.

I have been using a pick set and making very slow but gradual progress. The old seal is coming off in small bits and pieces, and I have been using a shop vac and canned air to try and keep any and all of the shavings from getting inside the housing. I did get to the spring with a pick and worked that out (it was broken - dunno if I did that or if that was how it was). Most of the seal is off now, but the last 1/8 is in a very hard-to-reach area – particularly for the picks I have. As mentioned before, all the tips were bending, so I went back to Kragen and got another set of theirs and to Sears to get what they had before the stores closed last night.

I am down to that last area, and have thought about using gasket remover, but am afraid of getting that inside the housing, or compromising the head seal / gasket.

I have been having to scrape the old cam seal off/out millimeter by millimeter, using a tiny screwdriver head. I fear that I may have scored the seat in doing so, but had no real other choice. I have 2 seals, and after the problems on this exhaust cam, just want to leave the non-leaking-for-now intake cam seal alone. This gives me (in essence) an extra seal, so if I install the first one and it too leaks in an area that I scored, I suppose I would use the second seal and use some type of gasket maker / sealant the way I suspect the last guy did.

I am trying to take intermittent pictures, and will post / send them later, but now I need to focus on getting all my paperwork ready for court... Hence, I am forced to abandon the whole project for now and take my motorcycle back and forth through the rain about 2 hours each way - Hooray.

Thanx again,
Cheers
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1995 850T Wagon 120k