Robert P

Would swapping the cam on a '01 4.8 liter truck with 307,000 miles be asking for trouble? I've been wanting to do this with my automatic 2wd longbed for about a week, but have run into some conflicting opinions...

The truck is stock except for a muffler shop catback exhaust and a k&n fipk. I'm wanting to put in a Thunder racing or TSP cam with approx. specs of 224/228 and 114 or 115 lsa. I am not sure of lift, but it's more than .500 i believe.

I asked my local chevrolet service department about a tq. converter swap and they asked why - i mentioned a cam swap - they had reservations about doing any of this because of the miles. The service dept doesn't even think I should install higher stall tq converter either...

My question(s) to you, the forum readers and posters are these -

* Should I do a cam and tq. converter swap with the truck at this mileage?
* What (if anything) else as preventive maintenance should I do inside the engine or transmission while doing this swap?
* Will this obliterate my engine's internals (lifters, valves, etc) sooner than later?

I wait with anticipation your replies! Thanks,
Robert

trans_am7935

iTrader: (15)

300k is sure alot of miles, and there are a few things you need to do before you can even consider a cam swap. first you need to check the compression, and your rockers for excessive play. then if you want a cam swap of that size for your motor you will most likley need the following items:


Cam (224.228 as you stated earlier)
Valve springs, retainers, valve seals
new oil pump (LS6 style)
timing chain and gear set (LS2 style is a nice upgrade)
spark plugs and wire set (optional)
stock rocker turition upgrade (not needed but with that many miles...)
new crank pulley bolt
gaskets

and that is all i can think of right now. now here is the thing, with that many miles on there, i dont know if your lifters will be able to take a cam swap. the other thing is that you have to pull the heads to get to the lifters, so that is something to consider. i swapped my lifters out at 130000 and they looked pretty good, but i still had a tick before the swap.

Robert P

Thank you ^^

This truck is my daily driver, and I put about 400 to 600 miles a week on it... As you said, the lifters and other parts mentioned should at least be checked and maybe swapped.

It might be best to just get some oem take-off heads--

z99ls1

iTrader: (12)

Hmm I would say it's not a good idea... Probably need to get that tranny rebuilt if it has 300k and that motor probably will to. I mean if you going to put that big cam in there your going to have to rev it higher and all that.

PheonixLS1

iTrader: (4)

Tranny cooler!!!!!!!

s346k

iTrader: (4)

cam the dogshit out of your car, leave that poor truck alone.

z99ls1

iTrader: (12)

Agreed^^^

philsblwnz28

iTrader: (10)

Put a cam in it and spray a 200 shot, I bet it will hold up

06Sierra2

with that many miles i would do everything that has been stated as well as lifters. i would pull the heads and replace the lifters and head gaskets. Honestly though, with that many miles your looking at an engine and tranny rebuild to come soon. It might not be worth all the work building the top end if the bottom end goes. For the money, i would look for a low mileage junkyard 6.0 to throw in there.

gregrob

iTrader: (8)

Modding a DD truck with that many miles would require a mental deficiency.

green28

iTrader: (8)

I was reading the sig and thinking the same thing, just throw that truck mod money at the car instead. Or buy a lower mile junkyard 6.0 for the same cash you were going to drop on the stall and cam and toss that in to mod later. I don't have much experiance with high mileage LS motors, but honestly wouldn't waste much time and money on a DD 300k 4.8