I am going to do it at 150,000


Out of curiosity what do you think is going to happen just because you have high mileage?

Its not going to cause catastrophic failure.

 

most people see bearings go and valves if its not well taken care of that is. a friend of mine broke a pushrod

 

Bearings let go because of lack of lubrication or over revving/stretching rod bolts ( like you said not being taken care of ) but that has nothing to do with the cam.

Valves let go because of not running the right valve springs or over rev

And breaking a pushrod, is also related to over revving or not putting in hardened push rods which should be part of every cam install.



So to sum it up, doing a cam install WRONG and not installing the supporting mods or taking care of your car is what causes failure not the cam.


( this was NOT directed at you brandon2000z )

 

I replaced the cam and heads at 150,000 miles. As you can see in my sig., I replaced everything from the block up. I always stayed on top of oil changes and maintance issues. When the valve covers came off, there was no sludge. They were clean. It now has 189,000 miles, still sounds and runs good. Well it did before I got clutch and tranny issues in June. Good luck!!

 

We did my cam install at 148,000...but it got a new timing chain/oil pump/etc. I don't think the mileage is really a factor.

 

For what its worth. I rebuilt my engine at 121k lol that seems to be the magic number,

I was amazed with the condition of all the internals,the cylinders still had the cross hatched machined pattern from original honing 121 thousand miles ago and everythign looked like it could have been reused for another 100k atleast. My lifters even looked perfect..

 

its all good yeah the guy that did it did only the cam i think he put a ms4 not sure tho and i know he drove it alittle be for he tuned it so needles to say he fucked some **** up

 

for what it's worth . . . I just did a cam swap on a 5.3 truck motor . . . and it had 220K miles on it. The "new" owner had not been taking care of it, and still wanted a cam/spring swap done to it.

It looked like the inside of a BBQ pit. There was all kinds of baked on oil built up on the heads. I wrote my screen name, and the install date for kicks for when it dies.

The cam bearings were toast, but it still had great oil pressure. It had warn down and threw the bearing coatings and you could see the copper.

 

you mean ill be doing it while you watch....

 

Well I decided to go ahead with the swap, but now cant decide on what cam to get . .. Any suggestions

 

Make sure you swap springs and the timing chain. LS2 chains are cheap to buy. Also its a good idea to have a longer crank bolt ready.

As far as cam choice, it depends on how big you wanna go. I'll be going with a Speed Inc SI5 cam myself (don't have the specs on hand, but its a decent sized cam for stock heads).

 

If you are impatient like me and dont have financial shortage issues.. Just do a cam only setup for some miles and start saving for a new engine..

that way you can enjoy some speed now and much more speed , later on...

just remember cam swap also will need new valve springs to say the least..

see I was impatient and got a head/cam package from TSP and bleew my motor now (not from mileage, but I suspect a certain someone to be responsible..) anyways I was gonna do a head cam, then get a new motor, but since I didnt enjoy my head cam. Im just doing a new motor now..

 

DO IT!!! I did my cam swap with 138K, it now has 141K And no problems, except a lil misfire which i think can be fixed with a tune. Car's currently on jack stands waiting for LT's and TD's to go in. Oh, i Also did the ported LS6 oil pump since the 98 pumps suck.

 

Thanks for all the Info fellas .. Ls1 tech rules..

 

I have a 180k on mine and Im in the works of a cam swap.. If it doesnt last It will jus be a excuse to the old lady for a build..

 

I did my little budget H/C swap at 95k. I'm at 106k now. It's doing fine, but I am noticing a little bit of smoke over 5500 when I first get on it. I'm betting a little oil is getting past the rings now. I'll have to do a leakdown to be sure.

 

I read this thread and all that came to mind was o.O "arnt most of your motors broke in at like 100k xD" jk only say that because a 120k cam swap in an lsx seems so normal these days. . .motors are tough!

 

I ripped mine apart for a fresh up at 100k. I had a new oil pump, comp 7.4 pr's, ls6 valve springs, and a used hotcam. The hotcam was the added bonus, plus a little motivation to tear it all down, but it probably needed all the other stuff. If I could do it again, I would put edelbrocks 2 piece timing cover on now and do an UDP as well. BTW, I've put about 30k miles on it since with no problems... though I am a little concerned with the springs.

 

I changed mines at 152.000 miles and I to have 189000 on mines to like you said its still ticking.

 

yeah i got just a little over 100k on mine im gonna treat it like its 10k too if it blows up oh well i get to build a stronger motor