I did this cam in the spring with 1.6 magnums and 918 springs (stock heads)and put about 1,000 miles on before tuning, car ran fine with just some cold start idle problems. Anyways had it tuned made 342rwhp and 328rwtq w/10:1 a/f baseline and then 360/355rwhp w/13:1 a/f after the tune. Car ran great and very strong, 100 miles later it spun a bearing. Now i'm guessing it was so rich before the tune that it thinned the oil out and washed the bearings out or could this have been from reving to 6400/6500 with stock heads?

 

BTW the motor only had 65,000 miles on it and i'm the original owner, oil changed every 2500 miles with mobile one.

 

lt1's are well known for spinning bearings very shortly after cam installs.........I estimate 5 out of 10 do it ...mine did the same thing 80ish miles after the install. Just throw in a crank kit if your budget is low

 

I got another short block from a buddy with 60,000 on it i threw new main and rod bearings and a high volume pump in it, plan on buying a rotating assembly over the winter for mine.

 

Sweet, I have been in your shoes, good luck on the build!

 

 

I made it @ 10k before I did it. Took 2 rod bearings out. Was holding 6k+ in the burnout box and it died.

 

Mine did it about 10K after the cam install. I believe it is because a new "bigger" cam needs to be spun to higher rpms to get the full potential, and the stock bearings won't go that high. I was warned about 6400 rpm and I spun mine to 6800 rpm. I wouldn't say it's from the fuel, stock heads, or a new cam, it's the rpms you spun it to.

 

Its the stock rod bolts that cause the problems in the upper rpms. Replacing those with some ARPs would definetly help increase the life of the bearings.

 

duuuuude
hey i need your block. I made a mess of mine

 

Wow! I must be one of the lucky ones. My car had 96,000 miles on it when I did my cam swap. Its around 140,000 now and still running strong. It sees 6,500-6,700rpm pretty regularly. And mine was a state police car for the first 83,000 miles of its life. Maybe mine lasted longer because it had the living hell ran out of it most of its life?? Who knows.

Jeremy

 

Sorry man but Mikes is just a loaner till winter, mines being built unless i do that trade then you can work something out with Mike on mine.

 

It may have been reconditioned while in service.

 

Not 100% sure or that. It very well could. But I do know its still 4.000 bore. It doesnt hold that great of oil pressure though. 45-50lbs at WOT. Im shooting for 11.9 with only a cam and bolt-ons to the engine, but I dont know how long this motor is going to last. I have my eye out for a lower milage LT1 from a caprice or impala. But I know I can get there I just need to refine my setup.

Jeremy