The cam from my '73 is worn and I have secured what I believe to be a NOS replacement part #021109111B that has been separated from its box (will arrive Monday). This is the identical part # to the one that was in my GA case and I purchased it listed as the correct part for my car along with the '76 912e.

However this is merely the part number for the Camshaft gear and there are no additional part #s on the Cam itself.

Questions as follows:

#1: The cam gear is riveted to the shaft as a one piece assembly, so is there anyway that this can be the incorrect replacement shaft?

#2 Cam Gear Part number 021109111C has a corresponding part #021109101K stamped on the cam itself. Some say that the difference is that the C designation is a stronger alloy versus magnesium for the part designation ending in B. Is that correct and would this be the correct cam as well for a GA case? If so, would you go alloy or magnesium? Both gears are marked -3 at the teeth.

#3 Worst case scenario, can the original be reground or would it be foolish to reuse.

#4 Are there any replacement Cams that are as good as or better than the NOS 44 year old OEM option?


Here are some pics as oily engine parts are cool


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Use the NOS cam you have and forget the rest.

Pretty sure the cam with green paint is a hydraulic cam.

Just checked, 2 rings, center of cam, 1 each side of journal is hydraulic lifters w/automatic transmission.

Cam gear part number has nothing to do with the cam.

My bad, I did not know that the bands had anything to do with the cam.

How about this one?

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One ring, bus FI 75- up, solid lifter, I don't know how that translates to 914, but a bus is L-jet and I know both 914 L-jet and D-jet run on the same WEB FI cam.

021 xxx xxx is a VW bus prefix.

Got it, Is it better to regrind the original or go aftermarket? If aftermarket, what brand would you recommend?

I added the solid lifter to the info.
Also is the ring a full ring or half ring?

Take the solid cam to Elgin cams in Santa Rosa and have Dema spec it out for you.

http://www.elgincams.com/contact.html


Edit sorry send it to him I didn't realize that it's a fair distance from LA

Looks like your stock cam re-hardfaced and lifted a little may be your best option,just a thought as I don't know stock F.I. much,a hydraulic cam would be a backwards step,sure someone could do it for you,good luck.

021 prefix is off of the OEM cam gear riveted to the shaft that came out of the original GA case. Apparently some versions of these cams were used interchangeably with some VW type 4s.

I believe Original Porsche part # to be 021 109 015 M, because its a -3 Cam Gear, but Cam gears are stamped VW. Thus the confusion.

Can't tell as all I have is that photo to go off of.

Cams are marked from +5 to -5, as tooling wore VW would make a slight pitch correction to the cam gear to account for the tooling wear.

From the Porsche PET catalog on line, here are the cam P/N.

Thanks, I need the NLA 015M with a -3.

Problem is it’s a VW part with the VW part # stamped onto the cam. The Porsche part # is for reference only so hard to find, but I think I have a line on a few them in the VW world. Will know more next week.

The part number will be a VW number even on a Porsche. The early 911, 356 and 914 are peppered with some VW small parts, they start with 111 or 113 or 021, 049, 411 xxx xxx which are all VW part prefixes.
914 prefix is 914 only, 901 and 911 are obviously 911. You also find all these prefixes on the 914.

Back in the day Porsche was a small company with little bulk buying power and it's rich cousin (VW) would let them raid their cookie jar. The T4 engine is pure VW till you hit the 2.0.

914 2.0 heads, crank, rods and bearings (designed by Porsche) start with 039 xxx xxx, not sure why they picked that number, but later 2.0 bus the rod and crank are 039 as well because it was on a 914 before a bus.

cornfused yet? how aboot the transmission it's a 914, but it's full of 901 parts

Thus the name of the thread “Camshaft Confusion “

Oh and the trans case has VW and audi symbols on it, but 914 xxx xxx the 9 is a definitely a Porsche part number prefix. Or the 911T front struts are a 914/6 part number...

Every number prefix is from the car the part was on first.

Elgin did my camshaft for my 2056. Using 330-1 improved stock but good for fuel injection.

Mark,

Is that just the grind number of the OE Cam or is this an aftermarket solution? Can OE lifters be used or is there a special requirement there as well?

This is adding to my "Camshaft "

That is Elgin's number for the cam grind. I sent him my old camshaft and they reworked to the 330-1 grind. Using NOS stock German lifters. Waiting to finish up with GB on the AA piston heads from Len.

http://www.elgincams.com/c-por3.html

Interesting. Will the straight 330-1 work OK for 2056 build with a stock D-Jet?

I talked Dema and he said it should be a good match. I also had Jeff Bowlsby calibrate the MPS for the 2056. Also using all new FI wire harness with new engine harness. Using stock Bosch injectors and a reworked distributor to factory spec.

Mark/Edward,

That is encouraging, I have located the correct NOS Cam that will be used for my build.
Will update specifically on my Resto thread.

Depending on the number on your original Cam Gear, my supplier has additional units in stock. You can PM me if you have any interest in going that route.

Follow up - New Learning

So after having bought engine GA000099 it turns out that this engine is a stock 2.0L that has never been rebuilt before. I say this based on the fact that the engine tin, cheese head screw had never seen a screwdriver and because it had an intact D-jet system inclusive of many original ground connectors, spark plug connectors, etc. Stock Mahle 94mm shallow dish pistons, etc.

With the help of
@914_7T3 I was able to locate a NOS crankshaft.

Initially I was skeptical that this was the correct cam for a stock 2.0L since I couldn't verify the part numbers from any of my own take off parts from my vehicle's engine.

My recent purchase of Engine GA000099 is shedding some light on the situation.

The cam I bought is stamped with VW part 021.109.101K. One pink paint stripe. One 1/2 ring cast on the cam to the right of the center bearing surface.

Porsche part number on the box is 021.109.015K but there is no way to tell for sure if this is the proper box for the NOS cam I received since the box wasn't sealed. Boxes often get shuffled and/or simply used as safe place to store parts. If you think about it, it is pretty amazing that 40 odd years later we can still find any NOS parts!

I suspect my box wasn't original to the cam I purchased since the drive gear on my NOS cam is a "0" pitch offset which should be 021.109.021M according to PET. 021.109.015M is supposed to be a "-3" pitch offset but would be the same cam profile, just a different drive gear. Really doesn't matter since I only care what the camshaft actually is - not the box. However, it all adds up to another source for confusion. Given that there are other known errors in PET, I don't even fully trust that!

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PET indicates that suffix(s) of the latest part is "M". Despite much searching on the net, I could never find a firm tie between the VW part numbers, the Porsche PET part numbers, or any parts that end in suffix "K" vs. "M".

I found conflicting information all over the web. The most authoritative seemed to be:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/archive/i...t-348618--.html

In splitting the case of GA000099 you can see that the stock cam is marked with two pink stripes.

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along with VW part number 021.109.101k

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the cam has 1/2 band cast into it .

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Not sure why this cam has two pink stripes vs. my NOS cam with only one pink stripe but suspect that it may be due to the difference in the drive gear. My NOS drive gear is a "C" suffix with "0" pitch offset. The drive gear on the GA000099 is a "B" which indicates "-3" pitch offset. Different levels of variation in gear pitch diameter allowed for select fit of the cam to crank gear to minimize cam backlash as part of factory build.

So it does indeed seem to me that the NOS camshaft that I bought is indeed the correct cam for a GA motor. VW part number matches. Cast 1/2 ring matches, paint color matches. Good enough for me. I'm happier than a bird with a french fry!

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Hopefully this helps someone else in the future.