Anyone tried it? More or less difficult than SBC?
I know the engine dyno guys report LSx easier, but I'm trying to decide whether to suffer the 2.8 an extra 2 months or leave the cam swap for later.

 

The main differnce is, you dont have to pull the intake and lifters on an LS motor. The lifter trays, after removing push rods, SHOULD hold the lifters up away from the cam after you spin it around a few times. This means all you gotta pull off is accessories, balancer, front cover, timing gear, retainer plate, and out the cam will come.

There are special tools to assure the lifters wont fall. They are basically long metal rods, 1/4" I believe. You insert them either side of the cam opening, and they slide back and block the lifters in the event that they slip from the lifter trays. Ive heard of guys using dowel rods to accomplish this. Just round the ends off. I will say that on my LS1 that I took apart, the 60k mile LQ4, and the new trays/lifters that I got..they hold pretty well in the trays. Not sure Ide trust them 100% though. If a lifter goes down into the cam bore, thats a bit of an issue and more work haha.

But Ive heard of plenty of guys doing this without the tools. If you try that, have your new cam ready to go in the second the old one is out. The longer you wait, the more time the lifters have to slip down.

You'll still have to remove all the other normal stuff. Rad, a/c condensor, etc.

J.

 

Thanks, seems it's no worse in-car than the SBC so I guess it will wait.

 

Its way easier then a SBC as you dont have to really open the motor accept the front cover. Less chance of something falling in or getting in.

 

Use some 5/16" brake lines for the lifters or 16 pen magnets

Cam swap is a piece of cake in a 3rd gen, dont even have to pull the radiator

 

on my lb9 you saying a cam swap is that easy leave radiator and just pull tpi off? I like to ditch the peanut cam

 

LB9 is not LS, LB9 is SBC, so I know what a PITA that will be. But starting from that smallest possible cam makes it easy to find 30+ horsepower from a mild upgrade. Go post this in the TPI section, not here in the LS section.

 

never thought of the brake line before. good idea

 

Huh...didn't realize there was enough room to get the cam out with the rad in. Good to know! Hope I never try it! haha.

J.

 

1) Do rocker arms need to be relashed like an sbc as well or do you just torque them down like a ford?
2) Also does the oil pan need to be lowered to get the front cover on or off?
3) does the balancer have to go back on in the exact same spot or does it not matter?
4) is any rtv needed to seal things up? or can you just reuse all the gaskets.

Thanks!

 

Is this a shorter cam core thing?

 

1) I think they just snug down. 2) Not as I understand it. 3) If there's no keyway then it shouldn't matter, these things are internally balanced, but it couldn't hurt to try, if you think yours is smooth now. 4) Silly-cone should never have been released to the general public.

 

Huh... I wouldn't have thought there was that much room. Interestingly enough, I have a Comp cam that I've been wanting to install into my 6.2, and I have the radiator mocked up in the car at the moment... Think I might just pull the cam out of the box & see what it looks like. (I'm not going to pull the front cover or timing gears, etc. at this point - but I might just take a picture or two holding the camshaft in that general area, just to get an idea of the space available...)

 

Please do I am very interested to see how much room there is. I'm assuming electric fans must be removed as well?

 

1) Torque them down to 24lb/ft
2) No for just the front cover. Yes if you're replacing the oil pump/timing chain
3) No, press it on however it lays
4) All gaskets are reusable, but a dab of RTV in the corners of the timing cover is never a bad idea

Ive done several and dont remember any requiring removing the radiator

Fans, yes, but they take a matter of minutes to remove

 

No radiator removal? Thats good to know, will save me a step!

Sorry I might be dim here but how do you use 5/16" brake like to hold lifters in place?

 

Like most pushrod V8s, the LSx has an oil galley intersecting each bank of lifter bores. Traditional engines had a small expansion plug blocking the front end of each galley, but not the LSx, so it is easy to slide something through the galleys, which will prevent lifters dropping out of their bores.

 

OK, this isn't certainly isn't the greatest picture, but it gives the general idea. I was wrong when I said that I had the radiator in, instead I had the FANS in, not the radiator.

I had to get my wife's help to take the picture while I held the cam, but what I tried to do was to hold each hand at the "outer edge" of the available space - so my left hand is where the block ends (excluding the timing cover, etc.) and my right hand is holding the bolt that's threaded into the cam, right about where the radiator would be.

There's obviously not enough room to hold the camshaft completely horizontally while dropping it down to install it, but I could see possibly being able to angle it into position...

(Personally - since I have a manual transmission... Hell, I'd just say 'SCREW IT' & pull the radiator for the extra 6" or so that it gives ya...)

I hope this is helpful to someone.