How long does it take to put in a cam....
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A cam change is a big job. On the older small block chevys, you had to drop the oil pan to get the timing chain cover off and that is a total PITA. I think on our small blocks, you don’t have to do that, not sure.
Degreeing a cam isn’t that hard, but adjusting the lifters is a real pain, that is if it still has adjustable lifters. If you really know what you’re doing, and have all of the parts, you could do it in a day, especially if you have somebody helping to clean the parts.
On my old chevy truck, I installed a 2-piece timing chain cover and can change a cam in about 6 – 8 hours myself, but that’s an easier job than a corvette.
Degreeing a cam isn’t that hard, but adjusting the lifters is a real pain, that is if it still has adjustable lifters. If you really know what you’re doing, and have all of the parts, you could do it in a day, especially if you have somebody helping to clean the parts.
On my old chevy truck, I installed a 2-piece timing chain cover and can change a cam in about 6 – 8 hours myself, but that’s an easier job than a corvette.
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So Patrick, are you putting in a cam?
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OK here we go.....
It took me about 3 days of working all day long to get mine done. On paper it doesn't look that hard but everything seemed to turn into a big big job. You need to.....
-Pull intake, pull valve train, remove radiator and fan assembly, water pump, unbolt power steering pump, alternator, all vac and electrical lines.
Now for the really fun part....
-To remove the balancer you need to get a pully puller but the Steering rack and front cross brace is in the way so, its time to loosen the motor mounts and jack to engine. By doing this thier is juuuusst enought room the get the balencer and the hub off of the car. (This took forever!)
-Next you DO have to drop the oil pan to get the timing cover off of the car....otherwise you will tear the gasket apart trying to get it out, and will not bealbe to get a good seal when re-installing it.
- Now pull the timing chain and some other crap behind the timing cover and slide out the old cam......it barely has enough room to remove it. Assembly lube the new bumstick and slide it back in the block that last journal can be a bear so it helps to put the timing gear on the end of the cam so you have more leverage.
-If your going to install a new timing chain now is the time to do so, anything bigger than the hotcam I would recommend going with the LT4 extreem chain, make sure the dots line up on the crank and cam gear and your good to start putting it back together. After you have coolent back in the car along with an oil change check all your fittings and electrical hookups.
*** When putting your rockers back on ***
If your useing the stockers they just have a Tq setting of 18ft lbs at the right crank rotation for each rocker. You lifers will not be pumped up so the stud will tread all the way down until its out of threads. Put them all on about 3/4 of the way down on the treads not enought so you lose vac when you start the car, but enough so they are not going to shoot off when you start the car. After everything is back together check and double checked start the car. You will hear TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK tick tick mmmmmmm That is the sound of the lifters pumping up and removing the slack on the rockers. Now shut the car off and pull them valve covers one last time to tighten them to spec.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a new set of stud and a poly locks on your rockers, I plan on doing that somtime this year. Yes I did chuck a rocker 10 minites into my test drive :surprised I about ****'em I wasn't sure if that was the rocker, or my valve who was hungry for some piston
Also if your going to do it, don't expect big gains unless you plan on doing Long Tubes also, just listining to the exhuast I can tell its bottle necking bad! The Hotcam isn't even that big.
good luck if your going to do it and feel free ask more questions if you need to.
-Nathan
I forgot about the Opti thats not a big deal the cyl number in on the wires just right now on a peice of paper what the order is on the opti becuase you can't see it once its back on the car and the wires need to go back into it. :thumbsup:
It took me about 3 days of working all day long to get mine done. On paper it doesn't look that hard but everything seemed to turn into a big big job. You need to.....
-Pull intake, pull valve train, remove radiator and fan assembly, water pump, unbolt power steering pump, alternator, all vac and electrical lines.
Now for the really fun part....
-To remove the balancer you need to get a pully puller but the Steering rack and front cross brace is in the way so, its time to loosen the motor mounts and jack to engine. By doing this thier is juuuusst enought room the get the balencer and the hub off of the car. (This took forever!)
-Next you DO have to drop the oil pan to get the timing cover off of the car....otherwise you will tear the gasket apart trying to get it out, and will not bealbe to get a good seal when re-installing it.
- Now pull the timing chain and some other crap behind the timing cover and slide out the old cam......it barely has enough room to remove it. Assembly lube the new bumstick and slide it back in the block that last journal can be a bear so it helps to put the timing gear on the end of the cam so you have more leverage.
-If your going to install a new timing chain now is the time to do so, anything bigger than the hotcam I would recommend going with the LT4 extreem chain, make sure the dots line up on the crank and cam gear and your good to start putting it back together. After you have coolent back in the car along with an oil change check all your fittings and electrical hookups.
*** When putting your rockers back on ***
If your useing the stockers they just have a Tq setting of 18ft lbs at the right crank rotation for each rocker. You lifers will not be pumped up so the stud will tread all the way down until its out of threads. Put them all on about 3/4 of the way down on the treads not enought so you lose vac when you start the car, but enough so they are not going to shoot off when you start the car. After everything is back together check and double checked start the car. You will hear TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK tick tick mmmmmmm That is the sound of the lifters pumping up and removing the slack on the rockers. Now shut the car off and pull them valve covers one last time to tighten them to spec.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a new set of stud and a poly locks on your rockers, I plan on doing that somtime this year. Yes I did chuck a rocker 10 minites into my test drive :surprised I about ****'em I wasn't sure if that was the rocker, or my valve who was hungry for some piston
Also if your going to do it, don't expect big gains unless you plan on doing Long Tubes also, just listining to the exhuast I can tell its bottle necking bad! The Hotcam isn't even that big.
good luck if your going to do it and feel free ask more questions if you need to.
-Nathan
I forgot about the Opti thats not a big deal the cyl number in on the wires just right now on a peice of paper what the order is on the opti becuase you can't see it once its back on the car and the wires need to go back into it. :thumbsup:
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30rwhp should be easy with cam (depending on what grind) and LT's artyon:
I'm going to order some TPIS LongTubes in a month so I'll let you know how that goes. :cheers:
artyon: I'm going to order some TPIS LongTubes in a month so I'll let you know how that goes. :cheers:
DONT
Originally posted by MongooseLT4 DO NOT DO IT THIS WAY. (offshore performance engine builder) I'm sorry and I'm new here but this is only half right. Roller cams should NEVER have the valve lash set like this. For that matter a running adj. went out in the '50s when they learned that if the lifter is not in constant contact with the cam it will damage both. (MORE SO WITH ROLLER LIFTERS) when the cam comes around and the lifter is not on the cam it SMACKS the lifter. If the lifter follows the cam all the way around there is no hitting of the lifter it just goes with it and NEVER leaves the lobe. When a roller lifter leaves the lobe and the cam comes around and SMACKS it the tiny needle brgs. take a hit and cause flat spots leading to premature lifter & cam failure!!! I hope i did'nt rub anybody the wrong way. If you want the proper inst. e-mail me @ offshore [email protected] I'll send wrighten or video.
OK here we go.....
It took me about 3 days of working all day long to get mine done. On paper it doesn't look that hard but everything seemed to turn into a big big job. You need to.....
-Pull intake, pull valve train, remove radiator and fan assembly, water pump, unbolt power steering pump, alternator, all vac and electrical lines.
Now for the really fun part....
-To remove the balancer you need to get a pully puller but the Steering rack and front cross brace is in the way so, its time to loosen the motor mounts and jack to engine. By doing this thier is juuuusst enought room the get the balencer and the hub off of the car. (This took forever!)
-Next you DO have to drop the oil pan to get the timing cover off of the car....otherwise you will tear the gasket apart trying to get it out, and will not bealbe to get a good seal when re-installing it.
- Now pull the timing chain and some other crap behind the timing cover and slide out the old cam......it barely has enough room to remove it. Assembly lube the new bumstick and slide it back in the block that last journal can be a bear so it helps to put the timing gear on the end of the cam so you have more leverage.
-If your going to install a new timing chain now is the time to do so, anything bigger than the hotcam I would recommend going with the LT4 extreem chain, make sure the dots line up on the crank and cam gear and your good to start putting it back together. After you have coolent back in the car along with an oil change check all your fittings and electrical hookups.
*** When putting your rockers back on ***
If your useing the stockers they just have a Tq setting of 18ft lbs at the right crank rotation for each rocker. You lifers will not be pumped up so the stud will tread all the way down until its out of threads. Put them all on about 3/4 of the way down on the treads not enought so you lose vac when you start the car, but enough so they are not going to shoot off when you start the car. After everything is back together check and double checked start the car. You will hear TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK tick tick mmmmmmm That is the sound of the lifters pumping up and removing the slack on the rockers. Now shut the car off and pull them valve covers one last time to tighten them to spec.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a new set of stud and a poly locks on your rockers, I plan on doing that somtime this year. Yes I did chuck a rocker 10 minites into my test drive :surprised I about ****'em I wasn't sure if that was the rocker, or my valve who was hungry for some piston
Also if your going to do it, don't expect big gains unless you plan on doing Long Tubes also, just listining to the exhuast I can tell its bottle necking bad! The Hotcam isn't even that big.
good luck if your going to do it and feel free ask more questions if you need to.
-Nathan
I forgot about the Opti thats not a big deal the cyl number in on the wires just right now on a peice of paper what the order is on the opti becuase you can't see it once its back on the car and the wires need to go back into it. :thumbsup:
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65 Posts
Hummmm everything seemed to work alright for me.....My rockers were done by a friend of mine, who discribed how he did it to me. Maybe I got it wrong.....if so I'm sorry to mislead anyone. The last thing I want is someone screwing up thier motor becuase of my advice.
No you did'nt get it wrong and i'm sure that's the way he did it ,but it should not be done like that, for the reasons that I stated. Never mind the mess it makes. I'm sure you'll be fine but for the cost of lifters & cam today (never mind the damage it will cause if one fails) you just can't use the OLD method there will be a failure. premature or instant! One hit from the cam on a roller lifter ruines it. I can show you my phone bill from the '80s battling with crane cams it took a while but I finnaly got it. What I was doing was opening the lash on a solid roller to get more tq I got the tq but the lifters were failing in 25hrs . Crane did'nt then nor do they now have an 800 tech line. That makes me! well you know.MongooseLT4 said:Hummmm everything seemed to work alright for me.....My rockers were done by a friend of mine, who discribed how he did it to me. Maybe I got it wrong.....if so I'm sorry to mislead anyone. The last thing I want is someone screwing up thier motor becuase of my advice.
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