Thomas Elliott

Hello all,
I have a '97 Formula with 150K on the clock and I'm the second owner, the previous owner was a woman who took pretty good care of it. I had no trouble with it but considering age and mileage I had a local Chevy dealer replace the water pump and the Opti, along with new spark plugs. The mechanic didn't put antifreeze back in it so the little amount in the block was about all it had (little did I know). Along came Winter and soon after a very cold day around 23 degrees I noticed steaming from the exhaust and a lower coolant level. I figured this must be a blown head gasket thanks to very little antifreeze. (Thanks a lot dealer service!). I added a bottle of that head gasket fix to get it through until the weather would allow me to pull the heads to have them checked for cracks and straightness, then replace the head and intake gaskets. I ordered and have them, along with a set of new roller lifters. In the Spring I had a health setback due to a cardiac problem, and Summer was far too hot to begin work on it. This Fall I'm on track to do the work. It hasn't been steaming from the exhaust or losing coolant in the meanwhile. I only drive it to work twice a week (18 miles round trip each time), I have two other cars in weekly rotation.

Finally my question. I don't want to tear it apart to the degree required to change the camshaft (which I've never done before) but I'm wondering if you guys think the cam is quite worn to the point that I should change it? It runs smoothly and still is getting good mileage on the order of 275 miles per tank of gas in mixed city driving (80 percent interstate driving). I get a very light lifter tap at idle coming from the driver's side but it doesn't have the quite common piston slap in cold weather that many SBC engines do. Its always been run on synthetic oil and received proper oil changes. Opinions on possible camshaft condition?

I know I'll only be able to see through the lifter bores for a look at the lobes. If they look good (no scoring and so forth) what would you guys do it it were yours?

ElkySS

iTrader: (6)

I think your too worried about problems that don't exist. Yea, the mileage is fairly high but don't throw money at it for no reason. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

But to answer your question, your cam is probably perfectly fine.

Thomas Elliott

I'm taking the LT1 top end apart on my Firebird. I noticed when taking the lifters out that on the passenger's side all the lifters side holes faced to the rear of the engine. Went removing the driver's side lifters it seemed at first they were all facing toward the front of the engine until I got to the back two cylinders. Three of the back four driver's side lifters where in facing toward the back of the engine.

Does it matter which way the new lifters go in with respect to the side holes and is there a "best practice" direction to install them?