average cost of cam swap on a truck?
05-04-2008, 10:42 PM
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average cost of cam swap on a truck? for future reference: including the cost of the cam, how much is it gonna cost me to put a different cam in my truck?
99% sure the grill, intercooler, radiator, and e-fans all have to come out to get the cam out. Not positive though.
Trying to optimize the setup. 10 vac at idle is no fun.
99% sure the grill, intercooler, radiator, and e-fans all have to come out to get the cam out. Not positive though.
Trying to optimize the setup. 10 vac at idle is no fun.
05-05-2008, 06:02 PM
#6
Kurt knows your truck better then most, I'd call him and get him to do the cam. That would be your best bet to getting one that will work for what you have going on.
Swap in the truck probably isn't any harder then a car, easier if anything. You don't have to take the intake off, just the waterpump, timing cover and the pulley, and the valve covers and coilpacks, shouldn't be too bad. Ya don't need to take the oil pump or any of that off either, so there's not as much work as a normal swap.
Swap in the truck probably isn't any harder then a car, easier if anything. You don't have to take the intake off, just the waterpump, timing cover and the pulley, and the valve covers and coilpacks, shouldn't be too bad. Ya don't need to take the oil pump or any of that off either, so there's not as much work as a normal swap.
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05-05-2008, 07:43 PM
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Kurt knows your truck better then most, I'd call him and get him to do the cam. That would be your best bet to getting one that will work for what you have going on.
Swap in the truck probably isn't any harder then a car, easier if anything. You don't have to take the intake off, just the waterpump, timing cover and the pulley, and the valve covers and coilpacks, shouldn't be too bad. Ya don't need to take the oil pump or any of that off either, so there's not as much work as a normal swap.
Swap in the truck probably isn't any harder then a car, easier if anything. You don't have to take the intake off, just the waterpump, timing cover and the pulley, and the valve covers and coilpacks, shouldn't be too bad. Ya don't need to take the oil pump or any of that off either, so there's not as much work as a normal swap.
Anyone agree? Maybe what I should do is have the heads taken off and put stock heads(built for this application) and sell the ETP. ****, with the profit I could probably pay for the cam swap.
05-05-2008, 08:01 PM
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I just want to sell the ET's to get some cash
05-05-2008, 08:04 PM
#11
I wouldn't sell them, you take those heads off and you put something else on, you're liable to lose 30 rwhp, then add 4 lbs of boost to get 60 back. Not worth it. Have them decked a little to bump the compression to 9 to 1, and change the cam, put something in that will bring the static compression a little higher, probably pick up 50 rwhp with the same boost level doing that.
05-05-2008, 08:28 PM
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I think the cam is killing me right now as far as power goes, and idle. like i said, at idle the vac only reads 10. This truck comes alive at 70mph. I don't get it.
It is a pleasure to drive on the highway, couldn't be happier. Around town, eh. Hopefully the trans/converter rebuild will fix that.
It is a pleasure to drive on the highway, couldn't be happier. Around town, eh. Hopefully the trans/converter rebuild will fix that.
05-05-2008, 08:48 PM
#13
Sounds like the converter mught be a bit too tight, but if you loosen that up too much the mpg will absolutely die, and it will have that sensation of slipping, even though it should.
Get your tranny taken care of, don't do anything with the motor yet. See if getting the tranny issues takes care of the problem.
If not, then maybe look at a cam swap. Something that will bump the SCR up some. I don't know what the cam is that's in there now, sounds like it's something that would work good with a big turbo in a car, but you having a heavy truck you need more bottom end power, so something that will raise the static compression would probably be a big help. I wouldn't up the boost at all, as long as you're still in pump fuel I wouldn't go jacking the boost any more then where you have it. Come to think about it, the way it is probably is pretty safe for the pump gas, you go changing the cam to something that does up the compression too much and you may run into problems trying to run regular pump fuel.
Get your tranny taken care of, don't do anything with the motor yet. See if getting the tranny issues takes care of the problem.
If not, then maybe look at a cam swap. Something that will bump the SCR up some. I don't know what the cam is that's in there now, sounds like it's something that would work good with a big turbo in a car, but you having a heavy truck you need more bottom end power, so something that will raise the static compression would probably be a big help. I wouldn't up the boost at all, as long as you're still in pump fuel I wouldn't go jacking the boost any more then where you have it. Come to think about it, the way it is probably is pretty safe for the pump gas, you go changing the cam to something that does up the compression too much and you may run into problems trying to run regular pump fuel.
05-05-2008, 09:06 PM
#15
First,I agree with Chef.
Second, the 245's are overkill for your truck.The cam is wrong too. You have a heavy truck that needs midrange. I run 225's on 408's and 427's for a reason -velocity.
I would go 225's and up the compression.Then step the Cam down to a 232/238 on 115+4. That will bring vacuum to 16-18" and definitely wake up the truck.
Matts truck,brents Vette and mikes car run 225 heads with 234 duration cams.Very nice drivers.
Second, the 245's are overkill for your truck.The cam is wrong too. You have a heavy truck that needs midrange. I run 225's on 408's and 427's for a reason -velocity.
I would go 225's and up the compression.Then step the Cam down to a 232/238 on 115+4. That will bring vacuum to 16-18" and definitely wake up the truck.
Matts truck,brents Vette and mikes car run 225 heads with 234 duration cams.Very nice drivers.
05-05-2008, 09:10 PM
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oh, and i'm just talking. not actually making real plans here. Just future plans. no worries. my new wheels/tires look sweet too. I think. check them out.
05-05-2008, 09:15 PM
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First,I agree with Chef.
Second, the 245's are overkill for your truck.The cam is wrong too. You have a heavy truck that needs midrange. I run 225's on 408's and 427's for a reason -velocity.
I would go 225's and up the compression.Then step the Cam down to a 232/238 on 115+4. That will bring vacuum to 16-18" and definitely wake up the truck.
Matts truck,brents Vette and mikes car run 225 heads with 234 duration cams.Very nice drivers.
Second, the 245's are overkill for your truck.The cam is wrong too. You have a heavy truck that needs midrange. I run 225's on 408's and 427's for a reason -velocity.
I would go 225's and up the compression.Then step the Cam down to a 232/238 on 115+4. That will bring vacuum to 16-18" and definitely wake up the truck.
Matts truck,brents Vette and mikes car run 225 heads with 234 duration cams.Very nice drivers.
Getting the vacuum up would make it idle WAY better too I'm sure. Right now it likes to stall at stop lights. That's so embarassing. Truck sounds bad *** with the Corsa exhaust. It turns heads. Then it stalls, DOH!!!! lol
05-05-2008, 09:46 PM
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If someone local wants to swap heads AFR225 or similar for my ET245 (or 240, no idea. 245 not listed on their site). AND knows how to do so, hit me up. Do my cam swap too while you're at it and I'll give you a beer, lol. 
05-06-2008, 12:50 AM
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doing a cam install in my dodge ram took around 10 hrs including new springs/retainers/pushrods and i did the spring swap with the heads still on the truck which is more time consuming but saved me the cost of buying new head gaskets. you have to pull the radiator/fan/tranny cooler on my dodge to get to the engine then you just step in the engine bay and have a ton of free room to move around. also have to pull the radiator supports or crawl between them. then you can start with the cam swap.
