does it take any "special tools" to do a cam swap?
01-27-2005, 07:04 PM
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does it take any "special tools" to do a cam swap? a guy i talked to about doing a cam swap said he had the gm service pack or some crap to allign the front cover and he pulls the engine to do the swap.is that stuff needed?
i have a good mechanic and was going to get him to do it , so what do you think?
i have a good mechanic and was going to get him to do it , so what do you think?
01-27-2005, 08:40 PM
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Originally Posted by mushroom281
a guy i talked to about doing a cam swap said he had the gm service pack or some crap to allign the front cover and he pulls the engine to do the swap.is that stuff needed?
i have a good mechanic and was going to get him to do it , so what do you think?
i have a good mechanic and was going to get him to do it , so what do you think?
why cam swaps are so easy 2-3 hours after youve done a couple . only oll you reall need is a torque wrench and something to hold the lifters up if your worried about that. front cover alings itsself just make sure to tighten balancer before tightin cover Trending Topics
01-28-2005, 12:49 AM
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It is possible to get the front cover miss-aligned. The LT1 had alignment dowels so you didn't have to worry about it. But on a an LS1, there is enough clearance in the bolt holes that it can get off if you're not very careful. If you ever buy a used LS1, you can almost tell if a cam swap has been done just buy looking at the front seal to see if it has been leaking. The cover will center itself on the balancer when you first put it on, but if you don't tighten the bolts very evenly, it will get pulled off to one side, and the seal will leak. Not bad, just enough to **** you off. So yes, using the tool would be best, but who has access to one? And you shouldn't need to pull the engine just to use the tool or for any other reason in a cam swap. Unless the cam bearings are bad.
01-28-2005, 04:08 AM
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I agree, put the balancer back on tight before final torque of the timing cover w/ extra rtv (I use copper type) in the bottom corners of the cover to prevent any leaks. I do like the balancer holder posted in the tool section, or was it in this section, would make the swap a lot easier for those w/o air impact. Lifter dowels bonus. Whats the deal with safety wire for the oil pickup tube? Never had any issues with the pickup tube doing a cam swap??? Larry's in car spring tool, maybe a magnet for the keepers in case they decide to exit the valve stem too quickly. Air compressor and plug hose makes for a quicker change as well.
01-28-2005, 04:19 AM
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Yes you can get the front cover miss aligned. The bottom of the front cover see is suposed to stick out 1/16-1/32 of an inch and the the pan goes on. The way you get it right is to put some RTV where the pan meats the block to pervent a leak.
01-28-2005, 05:26 AM
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from what I've read, the special dowls that hold up the lifters aren't required-I mean the fancy expensive ones. I see people have been using 1/4 steel dowls bought from home depot to hold them up fine.
