I wanted to get the opinion of some of you who have done it before, as I have never attempted working on engine internals myself. I would consider myself of average mechanical ability (for this board, not the general public) and can follow instructions from shop manuals and websites.

In the past, I have rebuilt complete suspensions, installed headers, and replaced just about every miscellaneous part on cars of all kinds.

I have a garage, and time will not be a factor as I have a beater to get me where I need to go. My main concern is screwing something up that would require pulling the motor to fix (e.g. spun cam bearing).

I have read a few of the online guides, and feel that I could accomplish everything required, but I wanted to get some perspective before I started making plans.

Thanks.

 

www.shbox.com shoebox has a detailed step by step for cam swap. from what i understand it is fairly time consuming, but you should be able to figure it out with some basic knowledge.

 

By the sounds of it, I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to. Just be careful and strongly heed the proper procedures for getting all the coolant outta your engine.

Good luck with it.

 

Heads are easy, cam i would say haver someone help you who has done acouple cam installs.

 

I did it with less experience than you have. Read a lot and invest in the shop manuals. I photocopied every relevant page, highlighted each step when done, etc. I also took about 130 pictures and labeled everything in Word to correspond to my notes. No problem getting it all back together.

 

The job really isnt that bad if you have a good manual and the right tools. I believe having the knowledge and experience is nothing without the right tools to make it happen.

 

Great, thanks for the input. I've read enough stories about spun bearings that I wanted to be sure before I took the plunge, but it sounds like if you're careful, it's not too bad.

 

It's not that hard... I did it myself and it took aproxamently 18 hours.

 

go to the link to my car in my sig and go to page 3 of the head/cam install there's alot of unhooking and **** like that u might need a wiring diagram

 

It isn't hard at all just make sure that you dont knick any of the cam bearings when installing the cam.

Oh and do yourself a favor and put all the bolts to everything in separate plastic bags with lables. It took me forever to figure out which bolts went where.

 

Buy one (or two) of the nut/bolt organizers at Lowes or Home Depot. You can label each drawer.

 

heads arent 2 bad but the cam is gonna be a pain def have some1 who has done 1 be4 help bc u have to drop the engine down a couple inches bc theres no room even with the front bumper and all off

 

The cam will slide in if you have the rad and condencer removed no problem. The cam is the easiest of the whole thing and takes like 5 minutes to remove the old one and install the new one just remove the oil pump drive at the back and gently pull the cam out with a twisting motion. Just go slow and youll feel it slide through the cam journals. When you put the new one in just make sure the lobes and the drive for the oil pump at the back is good and lubed up with some cam lube and then slowly slide the cam in again with a twisting moton until it fits right back in place then slip your oil pump back in and put your cam retainer plate back on and your done. Youll be able to do this with no problems.

 

Can someone link me somwhere and show me exactly how I take off my heads? I want to either get mine ported and polished etc. from Lloyed Elliot or get new AFR heads with a cam. I'll be getting LT headers, 3200 stall, ORY, drag radials soon. Any suggestions?

 

www.shbox.com will show you how to remove the cam and everything up to the point where you actually unbolt the heads.