cam install?
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Lombard,IL
cam install? hey guys whats going on, im gonna be ordering my cam in the next few weeks here, i herd u can install a cam on our cars with the heads off. something about rotating the cam 360degrees and it will keep the lifters in place, has anyone else herd of this? or have installed a cam w/ the heads still on? the reason why i wanna do this because im not replacing the heads, im just gonna be putting new pushrods and valve springs on. thanks again everyone!
Yes, you can change the cam without removing the heads, but it's a risky proposition. The lifters are held in place in sets of four with a plastic bucket. If you rotate the cam a couple of times it should plant the lifters into the buckets and hold them from falling into the oil pan. I say should, because they're only held in place by friction and sometimes a lifter won't hold and you won't be able to slide the cam out or worse yet, you get the cam out and then it falls out of the retainer. If you do a search there are a lot of threads that explain any one of a few different ways to do a cam swap without removing the heads.
There are tools available to hold the lifters up while the cam is out of the car. Thunder Racing sells them (I have them and they work GREAT). Not risky at all if you have the right tools. But yes, if you use the cross-your-fingers "friction" method you are taking a gamble, if a lifter falls you will be pulling the heads to get it back.
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 423
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From: Lombard,IL
hey guys thanks for the input i just looked on thunder racings web site and saw the tool u were talking about. now my next question is, how do u know when all the lifters are up to insert the tool?
Pull the pushrods, spin the cam, and insert some 5/16 wood dowel rods into the holes behind the cam retainer. Piece of cake. Waiting on a new blower pulley right now to start it up after a cam and boost change....
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http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=23
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Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 423
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From: Lombard,IL
yea what is the pen magnet for? i know im gonna need a magnet when i take the old valve springs off and put the new ones on. thanks for all the input everyone. my buddy who is a mechanic for chevy is gonna be giving me a hand on this, so hopefully all will go smooth. my goal is to get all my stuff on and tuned by the begining of spring, when i do ill try and post some sound clips!
You can use 16 pen magnets to help hold up thew lifters. By the way if you drop a lifter, If your lucky you will drop a lifter on the oil pan tray, then you can loosen the oil pan a little and fish out the lifter with a flash light and pen magnet. If your unlucky, the lifter will fall into the oil pan and then you will have to take the oil pan off to get the lifter out. BTW. I did drop a few lifters on the oil pan tray on my old car and had to fish them out with a pen magnet.
Pull the pushrods, give the cam a spin and try to put the tools in. If they go all the way back, you are good to go. If they are not all up, it will hit them and stop.
