i was wondering what you do-it-yourself guy use to hold the lifters up. I know there little plastic clips that SUSPOSE to hold the lifters up if you spin the cam. And i know about the pen magnet trick, but i have seen a few guys use a wood dial, i can get all different size pieces, just dont know what size to use and how long. PLEASE CHIME IN

 

1/4 or 5/16. Make them long enough to reach the rear of the engine.

 

I used 1/4 wood dowels. To make the right length, make it about 6 inches longer than your cam. That has worked everytime for me and it only cost 83 cents.

 

^ SWEET! Thanx for the advice, I'm also doing a cam soon, and didn't feel like buying the "special" metal pieces.

 

Aluminum rods in the same size work great as well, I had to bend mine a little and didn't want to worry about breaking a wooden one cause I seem to have that kind of luck.

 

Thanks for the input guys, im doing the swap now and had to stop. So i fiqured that i would ask before getting back started.

 

I used some 5/16 alumium rods and took the grinder and ground a flat spot all the way down one side and they worked perfect AND only $4.15. Now im trying to fiqure out how to find TDC on the #1 with the pusrods and rocker arms off. I have the cam dot-to-dot just dont know if its 180 degrees out?

 

JRP cam install tool here.

 

If its DOT to DOT then it should be top dead center. I used ls1howto.com for my first cam swap. It has very helpful info.

 

i used wood on passenger side slid right in then metal on the other slid right in.... the passenger side didnt need any grinding done to the rod just be patient worked for me