Do I need to replace the cam bearings while doing my cam swap this winter? My car has 120,000 miles on it i just don't want to go through all that work and then something else mess up since this is my daily driver...Is there a way to do this while the motor is in the car and how hard is it?

 

cam bearings require the motor to be disassembled. usually cam bearings are installed by the machine shop when building a new engine. its not something you normally replace unless you are rebuilding the engine. just dont get coolant in the oil and it should be fine.

 

How would i go about preventing that while taking the topend apart?

 

a shop vac. also change the oil a few times before initial fire up, and between oil changes crank it over without fuel pressure or ignition. thatll get the oil pressure up and if you do it and change the oil that should get any foreign particles out of the motor. just try to keep coolant and old gasket material out of the inside of the motor if possible. before you start scraping the gasket material from the heads put some paper towls in the lifter valley. and before tear down pull the bottom radiator hose off and then take the shop vac and suck all the rest of the coolant out of it.

 

Ok I'll make sure i do all that. Any other advice?

 

You assume some risk putting a new cam in with 120k miles, so don't be surprised if you end up with some issues sooner or later. You might be lucky, might not.