how hard is a cam swap?
02-19-2011, 12:30 AM
#41
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you are 99.9% likely to run into mishappes! lol i had a couple problems nothin major tho. i forgot to install the coolant plugs on the heads. i was fillin the car with water gettin it ready for the first start up and water started pourin all over the place. i was pretty pissed but i just had to remove the intake manifold to install the missing plugs. but its a shitty thing to happen when you think your just minutes away from starting the car for the first time.
02-19-2011, 12:40 PM
#42
just so you know, the LS1 engine (since the heads cover the lifters) was made to do a cam swap without removing the head. the lifters are held in place by lifter retainers and are made to hold the lifters in place during a cam swap. all you should have to do is pull the valve covers, loosen the rocker arms and pull out all the pushrods, then turn the motor over at least 3 times (by hand) and the lifters should pop up into the lifter retainers and stay there till you put the pushrods back in! now...that is how they are supposed to work, but sometimes high mileage motors need those retainers replace, so they dont stay up there.
02-19-2011, 12:43 PM
#43
02sslayer...thanks btw for finding out Ellis number for me, i am gonna call him on tuesday and set up a tune time with him. my thing is that i live about 60 miles away from him, do you think i would be able to mail my computer to him for a baseline tune so i could drive it up there safely?
02-19-2011, 10:19 PM
#49
I got it, I got the cam in, not too hard. Ill finish up tomorrow, still need to do the springs. I used the russisn roulette method, had 2 lifters that didnt want to stay up, so I used pen magnets. do the valves need to be adjusted too?
02-22-2011, 07:45 PM
#51
I got the cam swap finished today, ran into some problems, nothing big though, I got my timing marks messed up, and had to get those lined back up, the valve springs were really hard to do, until we made a custom tool, made it much easier. after we got it going i took it out for a run, and noticed a ticking noise, it got worse, so i pulled it into the shop, and took the pass side valve cover off....I forgot to torque down one of the rocker bolts :O tightend it back down, and runs great!, sounds almost the same as stock, takes off from an idle good too. Ive also got to say that I did the swap completely by myself, no help at all. My dad made me the valve spring puller, thats it. So im kinda proud of myself 
02-22-2011, 08:39 PM
#54
I think im going to wait to have it tuned, I dont know if I mentioned it in this thread, but Im installing a magnacharger, and this is the cam i picked for it. If I went to have it tuned it would probably make about 375hp right now. Ill save myself 2 trips to the dyno by having it tuned after I do the maggie install.
02-27-2011, 06:53 PM
#57
You should be fine running it until you install the maggie. I put a thunder 224/224 581/581 114 in my WS6 and ran it for almost year with the stock tune it ran pretty damn good every once in a while it would studder when stopping but never died.