7SEALS

Well I have been working hard the past two years or so, and saving up money to buy an LS1 car. I have enough now to buy one in cash, or at least enough for a damn good down payment. After a lot of research I was planning on calling TSP to setup an MS3 cam with whatever recommended heads/intake, and LT headers dumped under the car with bullets.

Now, my mom's husband is a real good mechanic, and has been a manager at a local shop for longer than I have been alive. They don't deal with the performance side of cars, but just general maintenance and state inspection/emissions. Any car I look at, I take down to his shop so they can put it on the lift and shake everything down to let me know how it looks.

Now I am not a very experienced mechanic, but I am really ready to learn. I have dropped a couple thousand the last few months in starting my tool collection. I have a tool chest almost filled, along with a 30 gallon air compressor and various air tools to start this project. Now my moms husband just talked to me on the phone the other day and told me his shop doesn't work on those style of camaros because they are almost impossible to do general maintenance on because there is little-to-no room under the hood. I told him I had plans to change cams and heads, and he just pretty much brushed it off like it was really not possible without pulling the motor since I don't have very much experience doing these kinds of things.

What I am really asking here, is can someone like me get one of these cars and be able to learn as I go, or should I start elsewhere? I feel kind of stranded now since my moms husband said he wont help me at all.

JDEP162

Anything is possible, i wouldnt jump right in to. Cam swap as a total beginner tho. But these are great cars, cant go wrong with one.

FIVEPOINT7

iTrader: (2)

I'll put it this way. 1 1/2 years ago I knew nothing about LS1's. All I really knew for cars was general maintenance like changing starters and alternators etc. Two weeks ago I did a heads, cam, intake swap with zero problems, motor still in the car, with the tools you said you bought. Motor work, especially top end work, is not hard. Its just knowing what to do and what to buy. Check out LS1howto.com if you want to see what's involved in a H/C swap.

JDEP162

Also, id say get all the major bolt ons in place first as u learn, that will help ur cam perform better anyways. Intake, exhaust, ram air, etc.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

If you have never done more than, say, oil changes and such, I would absolutely not recommend a cam swap as your first project by yourself.

JDEP162

^^^ listen to this guy, ive always found wisdom in his advice

2000PewterT/A

I agree, what I would do is read up on here and learn as much as you can and start off with easy modifications etc. Then when you fell a little more comfortable find a friend or someone that knows ls motors and have them help you along with the cam swap. There is a lot more involved than people think and I have seen time and time again where people have great intentions but get in way over their head and then they are stuck with a torn apart car and nobody to help.

BoostinIx

iTrader: (7)

This^^^

T AM

iTrader: (5)

It definitely is possible without pulling the motor. However, since the engine sits back under the dash a bit, it can be a pita sometimes.

I started at 17 working on my car without any prior mechanical experience, other than a couple friends to help me out. I started with installing a catback and lid, and now 5 years later I am installing a turbo kit. Almost every type of mod available has a write up with pictures for it floating around on this site.

2000 LPM SS

Dont let someone else talk you out of it. if its what you want go for it. LS1 cars especially with a t-56 are a blast to drive. Also buy a couple rebuild and performance books from Amazon and read read read. Thats what I did and it helps alot. But one of the best tools to have is a lift. it makes things 100 times easier. If you have access to that, it will be alot smoother.