Help me plan for my cam..
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From: Bloomfield, NM
Help me plan for my cam.. ok, well i bought a used FM13 cam. i plan on installing it with the help of a few friends. i am going to go with the Patriot dual springs. anyway, my dad talks to some mechanic he knows and he is telling him that i will have to have the heads machined for the springs to fit and that if i put new lifters in with a used cam it will ruin it. is he right? i was under the impression that those springs would fit without any machining, and never saw any posts about the lifter/cam thing. please help, i really dont even know what to search for and i want to get this thing put in. thanks a lot
Patriot Dual gold springs do not require the sping pockets on the heads to be enlarged... and no you wont ruin a used cam with new lifters.
you should not even have to put new lifters in with those springs. unless you are pull the heads anyways and just want peace of brain!
you should not even have to put new lifters in with those springs. unless you are pull the heads anyways and just want peace of brain!
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From: Kent WA
No and no... your dad's probably more "old school" and those things might be true with an SBC, but not with an LS1. The stock lifters will work fine, and the Patriot gold dual springs just drop right in with no machining... also a hydraulic roller cam doesn't suffer the same "wear" problems an older type of cam would, so buying a used one isn't a problem unless it's been damaged by some other means. Tell your dad to not worry, technology is beautiful. 
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From: Bloomfield, NM
thanks a lot man. thats what i was thinking. my dad is getting all upset because he thinks i am going to have to spend crazy money for machining and that i was wasting money on a used cam. ( FYI, thats why i have to wait about the chain.)
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From: Bloomfield, NM
so does anyone have some good points that i could argue, cause i know he is going to ask "how do you know?" i gotta be able give him some cold hard facts, like technical stuff. thanks
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From: Troy Al
Well in the old SBC days the cam would wear a pattern into the lifter and if you replace one with out the other it would cause undue wear on the new part and could cause failure.
Now our motors have roller lifters, so there is no wear on the cam or the lifters.....
which is why it IS ok to buy and use used cams.
Now our motors have roller lifters, so there is no wear on the cam or the lifters.....
which is why it IS ok to buy and use used cams.
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Verdad Gallardo Thread Starter
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From: Bloomfield, NM
thanks. it seems to me that the guy my dad is talking to doesn't do much work on LS1's considering what you guys have told me. thats why i plan on doing the install myself! thanks a lot
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From: Troy Al
Originally Posted by God of Thunder
thanks. it seems to me that the guy my dad is talking to doesn't do much work on LS1's considering what you guys have told me. thats why i plan on doing the install myself! thanks a lot
You will know more than him when you are done.
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From: Fat Chance Hotel
Originally Posted by God of Thunder
so does anyone have some good points that i could argue, cause i know he is going to ask "how do you know?" i gotta be able give him some cold hard facts, like technical stuff. thanks
Like killer01ws6 said...
Just tell him it's not a flat tappet cam and that the ls1 has roller lifters and rockers as well. If he knows what that means then he should understand. Otherwise the student becomes the teacher...
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From: Bloomfield, NM
thats what i need! something that he wont know anything about and will just have to trust that i know what im talking about, even if im just qouting you guys! my dad doesnt know too terribly much about the mechanics of an engine, much less an ls1. so maybe i can convince him. he's pretty stubborn though. ill just have to see how it goes. thanks a lot to everyone that has helped so far!
when you get ready to put it in check out www.ls1howto.com and look under the f-body cam and valvespring install. it's got everything you need to know to do the swap.
Originally Posted by God of Thunder
thanks jonathon, thats what i plan to do. help save me some $$$$
print this out for your dad and his mechanic, it'll teach them how different the ls1 is compared to the SB 350
http://www.idavette.net/hib/ls1c.html
http://www.idavette.net/hib/ls1c.html