97firechicken

i have 90K mileage engine and i have heard that it is not a good idea to swap a cam cause it will cause many problems, what do yall think?

TransAmGT94

The only problems it will cause is with the parts that were already on there way out unless something is done wrong i was considering doing a heads and cam swap on my 115K engine but i decided to just rebuild it just to be safe i would hate to get it back together and something weak go out

izzyz28

Do it man! All that talk about spun bearings and such after cam swaps is a bunch of crap IMO. The LT-1 bottom end is almost exactly the same as any other SBC, and people have been swapping cams in them for decades without spinning bearings. Just be careful and very clean when you do the swap. Take your time and do it right, and you won't have any problems.

97firechicken

thats what im thinking about doing. i always like to take my time and make sure i do things right.

Tim 98z

Just swapped a cam in my 96 (115k miles) And about to spray it! I'm also know the history of my motor. Car is still on it's stock clutch if that sais anything. You could have a 115k motor that is not hurt at all or it could be totally wore out be then....

25th_Trans

I have 89k on my 94 TA and I just did a cam swap, no problems here.

ram air camaro

i got 180,000 mile stock LT-1 engine with a 230/236 @ 112 lsa cam and it runs pretty strong, my advice though is change valve springs,lifters, and take a good look at your oil pump drive the teeth tend to get warn a little.

97firechicken

damn i hate taking off the oil pan.

Mtrhds94Z

You don't need to remove the pan to do any of the above...[intake manifold, yes]

ram air camaro

oil pumpdrive is under the intake manifold kind of were a distributor would go on a carburator car.

and it's mandatory to remove to get cam out. good luck

MTL_Z28

For all you guys with higher mileage engines that did heads and cam swap, I would like to know if you changed your cam bearings as well when you did the swap, and what did your cam bearings look like? I am in the middle of it and I'm not sur if I should have the cam bearings changed?

izzyz28

As far as I know you can't change the cam bearings with the engine in the car. You can change the front one it it's beat up, but that's it. There would be no way to line up the bearings in the cam tunnel unless you took off the oul pan and the front clip. Oh yeah, you'd need to remove the transmission too to get access to the cam tunnel plug in the back of the block. Plus you'll get metal shavings all over the place from installing the bearings. If the cam bearings are trashed then the rest of the shortblock is probably in bad shape. You won't know until you take it apart though. Chances are it'll be okay if the engine's been taken care of.

CamaroRob97

YES! That would be a wise move! i did my first cam swap on my 97 Z, and im pretty sure the car had seen some "action" and when I pulled the cam out you could tell there had been some cam walk by looking at the journals....alittle "shady tree mechanic" tip is is you take the cam out and take a penny and run the edge along the journals with ease (where u think there are significant scratches) and the penny stops at the at the scratches or u can "feel" them then u know for sure that the bearings are probably in need of replacement, now mind u i did this on a car with 107k and if i could do it again i'd probably just do a rebuild rather than put a "high" lift cam in a 107k Z28...but if u do decide to do it PLEASE make sure u follow through all the way with new springs and lifters and pushrods (if needed and if u go with a nice beefy cam u'll also want to consider nice 1.6 RR but even more importantly------> consider valve-piston clearence....) cause if u don't it could turn around and bie u in the a$$!!!!! My cars oil readings were allways kinda funny to so i believe that explains for the wear on my journals but all so consider the bottom end too, i mean u put that cam in and ur gunna wanna haul *** and run ur sh*t around and show everyone what the f*cks up so make sure ur about the bottom end (as best u can...)...also if ur gunna run a cam like i did ( cc 305) do urself the favor and get the heads ported to really soak up all that the cam has to offer....i didn't and i regret that!! cause ur cam is gunna make a huge diff (well depending on what cam u get but) if ur valves are opening at like a .510 lift and ur on stock heads they're only gunna flow as much as a stock head can with that cam in them....and as for the oil pan being dropped...well my friend im gunna say u'll have too, but thats good so u can check the bottom end and freshen it up with a new oil pan gasket...and maybe a hi flow oil pump, sorry but these cars may have "350s" in them but they're not like ur dads 68 Camaro where a cam wap was done in an afternoon, they're much more involved...u'll also have to get ur A/C recharged if and when u do it)...Don't take this negativly in anyway PLEASE im just speaking from experience!...Have fun

MTL_Z28

Thanks izzy and camaroRob!
Well honestly my oil pressure was always good, right where it should be and the engine never had any problems, and looking at the bearings, they seem fine there don't appear to be any scratches on the front bearing. I will check the cam journals as you said Rob tomorrow. Also the front bearing seems to be a bronze color (I don't know if this is good) I heard if the bearing is worn down too much then it MUST be replaced.