Is it time consuming to swap out my LO3 305 cam with an LT1 cam? I work on a VERY, VERY tight time table during the week so all I have is weekends.

Just wondering how hard it might be to do this, if I have to change the rocker arms, pushrods, lifters, etc... not sure.

Basically, can I change just the cam and leave it, or do I need to change pretty much the entire valvetrain?

Thanks,
- Justin

 

You shouldnt have to change any of that unless they are worn out.

 

oh ok, great. that makes my life a little easier!

 

You need to program your ecm and some say you should change your valve springs. It really depends on how much power your really looking to get out of it. On the other hand, if u decide to do it, i have an lt1 cam and lifters i just picked up on ebay and am not gonna be using cuz im swapping in a TPI motor instead. Let me know if u are interested.

 

just to clearify, you can't just pull out the cam. you have to pull the intake and remove the lifters first so they don't fall into the motor as the cam is pulled. not sure how mechanicly inclined you are so sorry if you already now this

 

Read this sticky on top of the first page of the tbi section:

-"Important/Useful : LT1 cam digest (the ultimate one)"
Posted by rock n' ShiftyCapone.

You will need to take the air condion radiator out and remove a little bracket that holds the nose to the frame to get the cam out. For the rest you can follow the sticky post. Also use lock-tite by reassembly.

It tooke me 5 days. I replaced everithing he suggested.

 

After I posted this, I read the LT1 Digest thread. I all ready knew that I had to practically disassemble the entire center of the engine block. I have the ability to do this cam swap, but I don't have any of the DIY Prom equipment, such as the burner, chips, cable, ecm adapter, etc..., and my biggest concern is time, because my camaro is a daily driver, to and from the university and work.

Just seeing around, how much are you asking for the LT1 cam and lifters fast89ta?

Thanks,
- Justin

 

I assumed he knew that already. I think what he meant was does he need special lenght pushrods and other little things like that.

And you dont NEED tuning to run a LT1 cam. If you want to make the most power possible with it you do, but its not required to make it run. I ran with a LT4 cam with no reflash.

 

cool. What about am I looking at as far as gains with no reflash on the ecm? As long as it will still run good and not break down what little fuel economy i have right now, that will be great.

 

From everything I have read, unless you tune for the new cam, the car will run but it will be an "undrivable mess." Also, from everything I have read, tuning these cars involves endless hours of datalogging, and re-writing tables. It involves hundreds of re-burns for most people to finally get it right. Now, that said I have never tried tuning, so I cant say from experience.

I am guessing, that you could make the car drivable without chip burning. People say that increasing the base timing alot, will do wonders for the LT1 cam. I also bet that investing in a VAFPR wouldnt hurt either, to help at least change fuel ratios a little. I really have no idea if that would work though, and if it did, you might not see any gains at all.

Finally, VW dave, did you use the LT4 Hotcam? I love the lopey idle that cam has, but I cant imagine it running on the stock tune. People say that cam is a total nightmare to tune for.

 

Nope, LT4 std.

 

Umm...... where you getting your info? Reading what other people say compare to hand on experiences are two different things.

To answer the first question. I did my LT1 cam swap on my old LO3 years ago in about 10-12 hours of actualy work over 2 days with one helper. Would of been a lot quicker but I had the flu and found it less desiring to do anything.

You DEFINETLY need to change your valve springs. Rockers, lifters and everything else can be reused. You can get a set of K-Motions off Jegs for 40-45 bucks I think. I would recomment new timing chain too while you're there.

Being a "Undrivable mess" is not the case. The engine will run fine and you notice a significant gain prior to a tune. Tuning is most certainly recommened and will get the most out of the gain. I drove my car for a month before a tune with no issues. My friend with a LT1 Cammed L05 K1500 has been going more then that without a tune.