creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, I did a search for performing the cam swap in car and nothing terribly useful came up. Basically, if there is already a thread for it, please post it and I'll go from there. Otherwise, I am looking to do the cam swap eventually and would like to do it in car. I plan on swapping the cam, lifters, pushrods, going with 1.6 roller rockers, replacing the seals, etc. Can this be done in car? Do the heads need to come off? What might I need beyond the obvious...any special tricks or hap instances anyone has stumbled across doing this swap in the past? Thanks.

camzaro28

can easily be done in car, might as well port the heads while your at it.
shbox.com everything you need to know

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

The general consensus on that is it's pretty hard to do and that no one has heard of anyone doing it in an F-Body. I think that if you pulled the radiator and AC condenser, you'd have more than enough room to do it.

Cam swap in, partially out or totally out, the same steps apply. Intake has to come off, heads don't, valve covers do.

Depending on how many miles are on your car, and how much money you have, it might be worth your time to replace at the very least your cap and rotor. My personal recommendation though would be to replace the whole Opti and water pump. Since if the pump goes out, it'll **** coolant all over your Opti, and they don't like moisture at ALL. If you do just the cap and rotor, while original Delco is great, for us 92-94 cars, the MSD kit is a bit better way to go. Simply because it converts ours to Vented and they seal a bit better to further help keep moisture out of the cap.

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

Except the heads don't have to come off to do it, so unless he feels like going through quite a bit more labor... And then he might as well do LTs since the heads will be off which would make installing headers a breeze. :\

camzaro28

whats 16 or 20, dont remember, more bolts and 2 gaskets?
I did it over the course of a week, working on it after work for 2-3 hours at a time.

HottestZ28

iTrader: (2)

it's more like 38 bolts and 6 gaskets
manifold bolts, coolant cross over banjos, accessory bracket bolts, manifold, banjo, head gaskets

Formula350

iTrader: (3)

That's making it sound BAD lol 7x2 or 3 = 14-21hrs for a H/C + porting time (assuming you ported, and I really hope so for that amount of time taken!)

While porting is quite worth it, I think it would be the next move only after having all the bolt ons. Flowing more in the heads is great, but only if the stock CFM is a bottleneck. Again, just my opinion

camzaro28

I bought a stock set off another board and sent them out, once I got them back, I started my H/C swap.
Oh yeah, and all them other you 2 mentioned, lol.
Either way, I did with motor in car and it wasnt that bad

creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

Right now the car has an electric water pump...no issues yet *knock on wood* with the opti...and it costing over $300, I'm hesitant to do it for no reason. I did plan on putting a new mechanical water pump on though as I don;t know if I trust the electric for longevity. I will probably eventually pull the motor and do the whole motor down the road, but right now it runs pretty good, has 117K miles and is mostly stock, so I was just going to do the cam swap in car and the misc stuff that goes with it so that even down the road when I do pull it and do the whole build, at least the cam/rockers/etc will be done. But if the opti is prone to fail at a mileage mark with or without moisture I may go ahead and do it. I do have somewhat of a budget though...not trying to cheap out, but I can replace the opti when I build the whole motor sown the road a few thousand more miles, at least that was my plan.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

http://shbox.com/ci/cam_removal.html

http://shbox.com/ci/cam_install.html

Green96Z

Cam swap is NOT that hard. No, the heads do not have to come off, just the intake. I ended up discharging my A/C system to get the condenser out of the way, and you have to remove the upper radiator shroud for more clearance.

myltwon

iTrader: (1)

cam swaps not terrible, most PITA part is the oil pan IMO

creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

Awesome, thanks again guys. The a/c doesn't work right now anyway, so I will probably disconnect the condenser and get it out of the way as well and find the leak and repair the a/c another time. Thanks for the links as well...they look to be just what I was looking for.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

This is another reference. You can never have too many quality write-ups.

http://www.afrashteh.com/guide/install.htm

Bullet95z28

iTrader: (3)

When you install the cam should you degree it in, or is it not nessesary?

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

Most everyone does cam swaps with the engine still in the car. If by hard you mean time-consuming then yes...it can take a good weekend with a few friends to pull off. None of the steps are really "hard" if you have some friends and all the right reference materials.

Just line up the dots on the timing chain, then remove said chain and gears. Remove the cam and reinstall the new one. Align everything up and you're good to go.

RoAdRaGe912

Bingo. I can't think of anyone who has pulled a motor just for a cam swap. That is FAR too much trouble. There's plenty of room once you pull the condenser and radiator. Like stated, there's nothing REALLY difficult about doing it, but you will want to read anything you can get your hands on. Small mistakes or an overlooked tidbit can mean the difference in a successful job or much wasted time.

Make sure the cam is correct for your year. Dowel pin length must be right. A cam for a vented opti car will work for non-vented cars (if the dowel pin length is changed), but not vice versa without machine work to the camshaft. Even though the splined shaft opti drive for non-vented cars is keyed, it can and will go on incorrectly causing lots of headache (I didnt' look to see what year you have while typing this). Once you're finished with the job I suggest starting the car up before installing the water pump. That way if you need to remove the opti/timing cover you don't have to pull the pump again.

joelster

x2 Oil pan is a bitch.

Bullet95z28

iTrader: (3)

Thanks RamAir95TA, ive been trying to decide if i wanted to tackle a cam install myself, as far as removing it and installing it, i feel pretty comfortable doing that, but if i needed to degree it in, i dont think i could do that on my own.

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

Yep...it's pretty simple. Dot to dot!