Hi, I just bought a 2001 WS6 with 50k miles on it. I went to a local LS1 performance shop in San Jose, CA. I told one of the sales representative that I was interested in performance cams. He told me my options as far as what cams I should get for my driving style. So I asked him "how much for these cams?" He said, it'll run you about $350 + tax. So I'm thinking.. ok that's not so bad for a good upgrade. Then shortly after I asked "so how much would you charge me for labor to install them?" he said "roughly around $2000-$3000" I was like WTF?

I asked him is that normal? He said that in order to put the cam in, they have to remove about half the engine, the radiator, etc.. so the labor for it will naturally be high.

I want to ask you guys if that is a legitimate price for installing a cam. I'm new to LS1s and don't know how hard it is to install them, therefore this guy could be trying to squeeze some money out of my wallet. But I wanted to make sure on here. Thanks.

 

I would walk away from that shop and not buy anything until you have some time to do your research. You're going to find alot more information on here about cams, valvesprings, pushrod and everything else that is needed for a cam swap then you will at that shop.

Check out www.ls1howto.com to get an idea of what's involved with a cam swap. It's not hard, but it just takes alot of time because so much stuff needs to come out and get pushed to the side. I did my cam and valvespring swap in about 16 hours working at a very liesurly pace. If you goto a speed shop, I would say that you're looking at $800-$1,000 in labor and $500 for a tune.

 

i did the same also. www.ls1howto.com. ive never done a cam swap. i just ordered the tools and bolts that i needed for the cam swap. took me about 6 hours for all of it, but then again my engine was on an engine stand. like he stated just make sure u got a big open space and table and then u not rush the swap. for best results i would still go for a live tune.

 

A local shop here is $800 for a cam kit with everything needed to install and then $800 for install/tune.

 

^^that sounds reasonable. My first cam I did in 4 afternoons just working a few hours each day. I just di another and started at 5 pm till about 11pm then the next morning from 10 till 4 and it was completely done. This was taking breaks and working at a normal pace.

 

like everyone else says do the cam install yourself. i just did h/c last month following a write-up and it wasnt so bad. take your time, do it right and have a blast when its all done.

 

installing the cam on these cars is not that bad. like mentioned above I used ls1howto and had it done in a weekend. Of course I was adding a bunch of others things as well. Since your new to these cars, you may want to replace lifters also and the trays as well. I'm not positive but I believe the LS7's are the replacement ones. Just something to think about.

 

if you have a basic set of mechanic skills it isnt too hard to swap cam's but make sure you take your time and read read read

 

also do you have any other mods done to the car

 

Don't forget you have to allow time to swap the springs. To me that part is more time consuming and tedious than the cam swap. If you have some of the special tool available on this site and some things you can get locally you can really cut the time down. The Crane/Vinci tool is the absolute best. I bought them all before that one came around. Now all the other springs compressor are on display in the Obsolete Tool Museum. The $40 pulley pusher is another winner. I use a chain wrench(plumbing dept at Sears) to keep the pulley from turning during removal and installation. 5/16" metal dowels(Home Depot) to hold the lifters up. Don't forget GM uses locktite under the heads of the rocker bolts so even though they are only torqued to 22lb/ft. you have to "pop" them pretty good to break the locktite seal. Years ago when I did my first LS cam swap I didn't know about this locktite. When the rocker bolts weren't coming loose with what I felt was more than enough force I stopped turing and asked a question here. LS1Tech to the rescue. If you run into a problem you can do a search or if you can't find it what you need that way you just ask for help.