After reading about all the spun bearings, it has gotten me to the point that I feel like I should replace all the bearings before doing a hotcam. At the same time, if I didnt have to do it, it would be a lot of wasted effort to pull the motor, dissassmble it, have the machine shop do there thing, and put it back together.

So what do you think the odds that me just doing the cam/rr's/springs/timing chain and putting it back together without any bearing problems are?

Thanks,
James

 

You cant use statistics to determine whether or not your cam install will be a success. What it really boils down to is how clean you are and how careful you are not to nic any bearing while you swap out the cam. Also mileage really isnt a big factor if 50% of them are highway miles and you oil pressure still holds steady around 20+ at idle.

 

I did my first cam swap at 125k on the clock. I ran the cc305 which is just a tad bigger than the hotcam. Now Im running the xe 227/233. Its been in the car for about 8k with no problems and its got 137k on the odometer now. Like turbo_z said, its all about the matenience and how well its been kept up on. If you feel like your car is in top running condition, go for it. Time in my sig are cam only, stock bottom end with roughly 130k miles on the motor. Just some food for thought.

 

I swapped my HOTcam in at around 120k miles with no spun bearings.

Honestly, replacing all the bearings and such is a heck of a lot of work for a HOTcam. If you're gonna pull the motor and get it freshened up you should at least port the heads and get a larger cam for it.

 

I had about 80k on when I did my cam... I admit it was less than ideal conditions and pretty sloppy. But I have 115k on it now and no cam related problems. Other than blowing my rearaxle at the track maybe due to the additional power.