Something I've not seen addressed in all the talk of headers and cam changes is what is the reliability or more to the point what extra maintenance do these changes add?

In stock form the LT1 will go a long time with no attention at all. Nice daily performance for us lazy guys.

When headers, cam package, 1.6rr, et al are added to the cars do they now need regular or occasional adjustments?

I was all set to do a build up with headers, catback, cam package, 1.6rrs but backed off when I wondered how much ongoing maitenance there would be.

I know, I know it's sacrilege to say something like this but I'd rather be driving the car than working on it. You may reply "If you're not willing to do the maintenance don't do the mods." That's fair too. I do wonder how many people go into "hopping" up their car without understanding the ongoing work it will require.

Basically I know that when you go to mods you should plan to have to maintain them but what's the unsaid truth? How much maintenance is there, or is there any? Does a mildly modded engine run thousands of miles without having to be re-adjusted. I'm not talking about oil changes and the like here but getting into the engine type stuff.

For the guy with stars in his eyes wanting to mod his engine is he facing continous maintenance? I think this is a good question for the young men, unfortunately I'm not one, who often leap before they look and who don't have time or money to always be pulling valve covers, et al to check valve lash, or whatever.

Haven't we all read posts that caused us to think, "Kid, or Mister, just don't go there. You don't know enough to do this work or keep it up."

 

Maybe checking and tightening header bolts every so often. The cam and rockers would only become an issue if you swapped in a solid lifter cam which would make little sense for a street driven car.

 

If the headers are done right there is no extra maint. As suggested, maybe checking bolt tightness after install

For a cam, if you get spings that will more than handle the cam instead of ones that are barely recommended for the lift you should be gold. IE don't run springs that are good to .600" lift on a .590" lift cam when you could get some springs good to .650." Also get all the other necessary upgraded parts like pushrods and lifters. Do it right the first time. Don't go with the wildest cam you can find. The more radical, the quicker you will wear out your springs.

My car is a daily driver so I considered added maintenance before putting a cam in. I kept hearing that springs only lasted ~20k miles. what I discovered whas that this was coming from people who race frequently and were running 918's w/high lift cams so the springs were at their limits. I've got over 2 years of daily driving on my Patriot Golds and a .590 lift cam.