Bare bones cam swap
 

I've had a cam siiting on the shelf for a while now and lack the money to go ahead and do the heads now. So What I'd like to know is what do I need to do the swap now without inversting more money than I have to, just to turn around and do it again I already have a cam and converter. and all supporting mods. The cam is a 550/560 lift cam. The car has 53K on the clock and no mechanical issues.

Do you mean as far as tools go, or other stuff that you need to check and replace at the same time that you are in there? For tools its mostly just a lot of socket wrenching; most people also use a 3-jaw puller I believe for getting to the cam; maybe there's other ways for that but it was the easiest for us to do... most people go with a new oil pump too, since stock ones have been unreliable in the past. The LS2 timing chain is a strong upgrade; you don't need to spend 120-150 on a whole set...just get the chain and that would work I've heard. I'd go ahead and drain all the coolant if gravity doesn't do it for you and change all that out while changing the oil and filter too... You may need to replace the O-ring at the pickup tube for the oil because that caused a not-so-good seal in my oiling system that caused variable oil pressure at all RPMs, sometimes in the critical range...

Other than that, you could use a good write up about the swap at LS1howto.com, a weekend with nothing better to do, and plenty of patience if you've never done it before. Once its done a dyno tune is in order probably...

To run that cam you'll need hardened pushrods and new valve springs.

Do your back and yourself a favor and buy one of the special valve spring tools for an LS1 w/ the heads on the car...the one I did we had to do ONE SPRING at a time b/c he didnt have the tool and OMFG that sucked.

Springs, pushrods, timing chain, possibly an oil pump. Anything else? Where would I find this tool to do the springs on the car?

I did literally my entire valvetrain when I put my cam in, and I have just a lil more lift than u do. The only thing that is still good stock are the rockers. Lifters, timing chain/set, pushrods, springs, retainers, oil pump, etc. All of those should be replaced.

Not really.. The timing chain is said to be good for a decent amount of power. My buddy has been running it on his MS4 for over a year now. Lifters are fine stock.

You'll only need hardened PR's, oil pump and springs.... That and a timing cover, Crank pulley and VC gaskets. I've got a TR ported pump that works great for a budget.. :cool:

That should be it.. Besides a tune... The tune on a mild cam isn't exactly NEEDED, but it is needed to extract the most out of it and prevent detonation.

What springs are we talking here? I was thginking 918's but I've heard they have had some issues as of late. I don't know if that was ever resolved or not.

When we talk pushrods are Chromemoly and hardened equal of different?