ive been planning on doing a cam for a while, however recently ive been getting scared of the idea. im worried about spinning a cam bearing or possibly something else that will shut the car down for the summer. im going to college next year so this is my last summer with the car at home. while i want it to be fun and all which is why i wanna swap a cam into it, i dont wanna have that chance that something bad goes wrong in april, and i cant afford to fix the car until the winter time, in which ill be LT1less for the whole summer which would absolutely suck. the car has 100k on it but runs really well, i maintenance it great and take care of it, but im just worried about that dumb luck i could get. what do you guys think.

 

Always a risk with that many miles. If you have don't have a motor to drop in i would wait.

 

I agree. If you are that worried about chancing it, then I would leave it alone.

 

Yeah if you worried about it, then just hit up some N20.

 

100k really isnt that many miles..i say put the cam in

 

im in the same situation as you car is a DD and im in school...

the car has 111k on it right now and i thought about the cam but am not about to justify the potential risk of it failing

all i would do to the internals is some RRs and call it good unless you really want to potentially have to drive something else while its getting fixed

my plans are (and i see you already have most of these)
1. headers (got the cash, and ill be getting them soon)
2. ewater pump
3. 1.6 rrs
4. 100 shot with all the safety goodies
5. 3.73s or 4.10 gears

i figure that should keep me busy for a couple years... and by then ill be done with school

and by all means if there is anyone else with suggestions or critisims about my plans let me know

 

well i spoke to the local machine shop and had them check out the cam ill be installing. they felt pretty happy about my plan and parts, and said as long as i take my time with the install, keep it clean, use all the lube and be careful pulling out the old cam and putting in the new one, i shouldnt have any trouble with it. they kinda assured me nothing should go wrong with it, which made me feel better but im still a bit uneasy. anyone running a fairly large cam on a stock high mileage motor?

 

The big problem that causes spun bearings is people being too rough when they remove or reinstall the cam. You must be very careful as to not gouge the bearing surface. If you get jammed when removing the cam, VERY carefully move back and try to pull it again. NEVER use accessive amounts of force and try not to rub the cam lobes on the bearings. If you have to pull hard, you are doing something wrong. You should be able to pull the cam sraight out with an occassional twist using minimal force.

I had a friend back in high school that did a cam swap on his old Buick car. The engine didn't have too many miles on it (about 20k). About 5 days after the swap he spun a cam bearing. He couldn't figure out the cause so later on that day I asked him, "so how did you install that cam?" His response was,"with a mallet."

So, use common sense and you should be fine

 

I would get some nice 1.6 RRs along with good springs (stong enough to support the cam that would have gone with) and call it good.

Getting stronger springs, even w/o larger rockers or cam is a good idea and will prevent float which prevents you from your top end potential. Moving up to higher ratio along with less friction producing RRs is like putting in a tiny cam and will provide a little bit of increased performance. I.e, improving you valve train is a plus and a must.

If this car is your daily driver, I would not advise putting in a cam at this time--bearings have known to spin with 0 miles on the engine---and often after a cam install.

Then when you decide to go with a cam, you will already have the top end taken care of and can concentrate on the cam alone.JMHO

 

BTW: just because the shop said nothing "should" go wrong----there are tons of stories about that phrase........

 

If you can't afford to fix it, leave it alone...and if you can't afford to re-build it, leave the nitrous off of it. Enjoy it as is.

 

Smartest reply yet.

 

There are people running larger cams on higher mileage motors, but it doesn't necessarily help the reliability issue that you are worried about. If you do cam it, I would probably just play it safe and go with a Hotcam and some 1.6 RRs.

 

It is hit and miss and a whole lot of what you do right or wrong. Last summer we put an AI spec cam in a friend's 140K mile 9C1(cop car), it is his daily driver and is still going strong. He has a spare motor under the workbench though so we could take the chance.

 

There's an idea

My guess is you are raggin the car anyway right? Ah heck, go with the cam install. What cam are you looking to run? I would at least replace the front cam bearing during the install. LT1's are hard on the front cam bearing. If your motor has been taken care of like you say, I wouldn't be scared to cam it.