Go to home depot and buy some wooden dowel rods to hold up your lifters..it works like a champ and wont cost you hardly anything..

 

wooden.. or would metal be fine

 

Screw the whole wooden dowel or $90 tool just spin the old cam a few times and the lifters should stay up on their own.

 

I didn't see anyone recommend a degree wheel.....?

 

What Exactly Is The Process OF Degreeing A Cam ?

 

Yeah, the cowl will stick it to you.

 

Those push pins that hold the rubber seal to the cowl can be pulled up and out of the way and you will not be slashing youself while reaching back in there.

 

Yes that is one way to do it if you like to gamble..if one of those lifters falls you are going to have a real PIA to deal with..I spin them up and out of the way but I use a rod for insurance and peace of mind..

 

His cam more than likely will have advance ground into it. No need to degree it really just line up the dots and your good to go. everything is dowel pined so you cant get it wrong. He also more than likely wont have and adj timimg set.

 

Agreed, no reason to gamble, especially his first time doing this. If one falls, he will be doing a lot more than a cam install. For just a one time use, wooden dowls should be fine, but after the 60+ installs my husband and I have done, we now use metal for extra insurance that the wood won't break in there.

 

ill use metal

 

I concur. I've used the metal rods and they work great. I'd be afraid of snapping or breaking a dowel or having it split while its in the motor. Might not be likely but the idea makes me nervous. The Russian Roulette method also seems riskier than I care for.

 

Nothing wrong with the Russian Roulette method if you like to gamble. Lets face it for the sake of being preparred you could have the adventure of having to triple your work load by taking the heads off. Thats the grand prize of being, for lack of a better word, stupid. Maybe 9 times out of ten a lifter wont move but what if your that 10th time. Is it really worth not shoving a couple rods in? The holes are right there under the timing cover its not like its extra work.

 

Metal or wood take your choice..they are not being driven in with a hammer.. .. they slide right in and basicly just sit there doing nothing in case one of the a for mentioned lifters decides to slide downward..we are talking about a few ounces of metal that the rod has to support if one does slide down .. .. just use something ... unless you want to do the hours of extra work that retrieving a fallen lifter willl require when using the russian roulette method...

 

Parts of the block are sharp. I personally, with the wooden dowels, have had the wood splinter in there but thankfully it stayed intact until we got it out. Hence the reason we switched to metal rods.

 

I've heard that before. There are those who absolutely do not recommend the wooden dowels. I bought the rods. I like tools.

 

pen magnets. i also used rope compressed in the cylinder to hold the valves up when doing the springs. worked like a charm

 

Pen magnets come unglued all the time save your money get rod outs made out of the material of your choice ...rope... ...rope is for catching horses..

 

not when you use your friends magnets that have already been glued. dont diss the rope method till you try it. old hot rodders trick.

 

I am an old hot rodder (60) and grew up on the farm..rope is for catching horses...I always use TDC method or an air compressor to hold the valves closed when changing springs.. both of those methods are far less hassle than feeding rope into a cylinder .. .. ... using 2 rods has no if and or maybes about it ..glued magnets can come apart..the lifter is not going to get around the rod..