Someone who has BTDT, what are some of the tips on doing a cam in one of these cars?

About how long did it take you, start to finish? I figured I can do it in a weekend.

Tips/Tricks, Im open to suggestions.

 

well its pretty straight forward.the only way your gonna save yourself some time is if you have airtools.other than that,you still have to remove the intake and the front part of the engine yada yada yada.

 

It won't help you this time around, but if you are running OEM lifters GMPP makes the plastic lifter retainers (to replace the dogbone setup) that are similar to the ones on the LS motors. That way, the next time you swap the cam you won't even have to pull the intake.

First LT1 cam swap took me about 6-7 hours total, not including the spring change. I probbaly could have done it faster, but I'm pretty **** about cleaning everything.

 

Things that will have you stopping to go buy the right tool for the job. Torx bits, the good valve spring tool [one from summit with long removable handle that threads onto rocker studs [works on double coil springs and under the cowl], The right stuff silicone, friends for support and making them to the dirty stuff, radio, leave the crank pulley on the hub, dont tear the oil pan seal, PB Blaster, tool to keep air pressure in the cylinders, um..idono thats about all I can think of off the top of my heads.

-Dustin-

 

So, how is it you get the cam out without removing the oil pump drive? You end up having to remove the intake for that, anyway.

 

shoebox is right, intake has to come off for the oilpump drive.

I have never done a cam on an f-body but in a b-body even with the gobs of extra space we have I pull the engine. Did one cam swap in the car and have pulled the motors every time since. Motor comes out of a b-body pretty easily though with the tranny attached, never pulled one out of an f-body to compare level of dificulty.

Really lets you be clean about everything and work at a more comfortable position.

 

Doing a cam in an F-body doesn't really warrant all the extra trouble of pulling the motor out of an F-body IMO.

Heads on the other hand, I would pull the motor.. it's just too much of a pain in the *** w/ engine in car. And like you said, a little too dirty to do it "right".

 

I found that a quadruple espresso before each wrenching session helped speed things up quite a bit. Only took me 6 months (project creep).

 

The greatest speedup is to cut out the part of your brain where the thought "as long as I'm in there" originates.

 

"The greatest speedup is to cut out the part of your brain where the thought "as long as I'm in there" originates." That's a good one, man that has set me back numourous times.

I also like the friends for support one, maybe some cheerleaders in bikini's too, hell why not, that would get me going.
-b

 

So someone said about keeping the balancer on the hub, can you still pull the hub off with a regular old bolt-style puller if you keep it on ? I dont have time to look now at it, or I would.

And 6-7 hours sounds pretty good to me.

I wont need the good valve spring tool. I already did a spring swap, with a ****ty one.

I guess I will though to degree it ?

 

Yeah I know what your talking about, that's the reason I'm doing my cam swap

My rear end and transmission blew a month ago on a nasty launch, so while the trans is getting rebuilt, I figured I'd fix the rear intake leak and the harmonic balancer oil seal leak. Well I figured I'd replace the timing chain too.....and since I was in there, why not a cam?

 

A head swap is easier than a cam swap and I see no point in removing the motor to do the heads. Unbolt the intake manifold, headers, and unbolt the heads and pull them out, not too much to it really.

 

Have the parts before you start. Set the #1 piston to TDC heads dont need to come off for cam install. the opti can only go on one way (the spot with the slot lines up with the dowel pin on the cam). Don't pull the cam out with out removing pushrods and lifters(unless you use the compression tools). remember to set the valve lash 1/4 past zero. make sure you seal everything good beacause you dont want to go back for a leaking seal. be careful not to break the oil sensor behind the intake manifold (D/S). AND DONT STRIP ANY HOLES. take your time and do it right the first time. Oh an balancer hub needs the crank bolt and put a thin but decent steel punch or a strong small bolt that fits in the hole(not to thread but to push on). Good luck. 2 day job woth your expeirence.

 

I did my cam swap in an easy weekend. Have lots of room to lay everything out. Makes it easier when you start putting things together. I had one bench specifically for laying out all the parts and bolts in the general order they came out.