Cam in LT1 Good or Bad???
cam is 230/236 with 1.6 rockers
97 lt1block in 95 car with pcm4less tune
mild ported heads
stock bottom end
cc467 cam 230/236
1.6 rr
ls1 springs
comp lifters
longtubes
ory
no cats
and cold air intake
52mm lingenfelter tb
intake match ported to heads
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cam is 230/236 with 1.6 rockers
1) Higher milage engine + big cam = higher cylinder pressure = Bearing failure
2) Installing crank hub using Big Fing Hammer = Bearing failure
3) Getting junk in the oil and not changing it often after the install.
3) ( and my opinion ). Again higher milage engine + big cam AND spinnning a stock bottom end over 6600 RPMs.
I done a bunch of cam installs over the past 10 years on LT1s. I am very carefull about keepeing everything clean. 1st start up 15 minutes, change oil, 100 mile of easy driving - change oil. another 400 miles easy - change oil, then beat it like you hate it! I always say to never spin above 6600 and every one has lasted.
I bought the car with a rebuilt engine by jasper that was just put in...idiot that put the heads on didnt use the right head bolts so antifreeze was pissing everywhere after about 40 miles. I then pulled the engine and sent the heads to be machined and replaced the lifters/springs/rr's/pushrods/valve covers and the cam. Motor went back in and ran awesome for approx 600 miles maybe a little more. And now she is smoking white, lifter tap on one side, and overheating (past half way and it wants to keep going but i shut it off)when car is idling or not moving. Why would this happen? Was the one head gasket bad? Do you think any bottom end breakage? And what is with the tapping from the drivers side? Any help would be great
As for the leaking coolant, lets hope it is a head gasket and by some pure luck it is moving into the exhaust and not filling the crankcase.
One more thing about spinning bearings. People want to use heavier oil to boost pressure but in a stock motor this is truly a bad idea. The clearance is so small in modern engines that the lighter the oil the better. That's where synthetics shine because of the smaller round molecule. Correctly built engines have more bearing clearance from the git and a heavier oil can more easily make its way through those clearances. Pampered-Z nailed it with the RPM issue. It's rare to read about spun bearings with the factory rev limiter. It usually happens at those higher than normal revs.
When a bigger cam is installed then the bearings are subjected to hopefully higher RPM's and hopefully higher amounts of power. If the bearings are on or near the fine line of failure then the cam will be the nail in the coffin for those bearings and they will start to knock which means the engine is coming out.
This is obviously less of an issue on lower mile well taken care of motors, installing a cam in a higher mile engine is a crap shoot. I think it is safe to say that half of the people that install bigger cams end up spinning rod bearings and sometimes main bearings too. Others get lucky.










