ok i have a pretty much stock LO3 -92 rs- other than flowmasters, headers, gutted cat and open air element -soon to have edelbrock intake- anyways what cam do you suggest?? and, ...what exactly do i have to do to get the sucker in! i dont wanna have to pay some fool to put it in for me, id rather do it myself. just a general over view of the install would be great. dont need it to be too specific just yet, this is still in the theorizing stages as of now.

 

The intake, valve covers, water pump, harmonic damper, and front cover have to be removed. The radiator and AC condensor have to be moved out of the way. To get the front cover off, lowering the oil pan is required (although you can get around this). Removing and installing the damper require special tools.

Afterward, the valves and timing have to be adjusted.

 

doesnt sound like a job i can do by myself heh. bolt on accesories i can do , ..self explainitory, but this seems to be a litel more difficult, ...anyone have any idea how much it would cost to get a cam put in, ..and what kind of cam should i get???

 

get a used LT1 cam .. its cheap, roller and will give you a great increase over the peanut cam you have now.

You dont have to remove the accessories, they can stay on .. but the water pump has to come off. I was typing instructions for it outta memory .. i got halfway done and was tired. Maybe I'll post them later.

 

the alternator does have to come off

 

ok,, i gotta get the lifters too right?

 

You can re-use your existing roller lifters. You need to use a roller cam, specifically designed for the factory roller system.

You have to remove enough stuff off the front of the motor to get the water pump and harmonic balancer and timing cover off, which will probably require loosening the oil pan; you have to remove the radiator, and move the A/C condenser out of the way, and remove or sodomize the vertical brace under the hood latch; remove the distributor and intake and valve covers; from there it's pretty self-evident.

Replace the timing set. Your parts list would probably be a cam; timing set; gasket sets for the water pump, timing cover, intake, and valve covers; oil and antifreeze; "rent" a balancer puller/installer tool (free); and no telling how many sensors, vacuum lines, wire connectors, etc. It would be a great time to replace the thermostat and any other limited-life parts you touch, while they're already apart.

The cost of paying somebody else to do a cam swap is prohibitive. It should take around 6-8 hours to do it to a brand-new motor, where there's no broken bolts, gaskets that won't clean off, mystery things that break when you touch them, etc.; figure on more like 12-15 labor hours on a 10-year-old car. At $50-60/hr shop rates, it kind of takes the fun out of upgrading your car. Learn to do it yourself. Buy a book, enlist the help of someone you know that's done one before, it's the only way to realistically afford it if you work for a living like I do.

 

I wouldn't do it without some help if I were you. The first cam swap I did almost took me a whole week, at which timing I wanted to light my car on fire. get a Haynes manual and someone who has done it before to help you out.

Pretty much all the accessories must be removed, your a/c will need to be recharged when you are done cause all the fluid is gonna be let out. Intake comes off, lifters/pushrods come out, Rockers come off, (or they're loosned a lot) and the list goes on. Getting the timing cover off and put back on without dropping the oil pan is a bitch, if you drop the pan though, you may cause leaks. Get some help, make it a bit easier on yourself.

Oh yeah.... For the money, get the LT1 cam, you cant beat the price, and roller is the way to go if you are gonna stick with the computer.

 

might almost be easier just to pull the motor and work on it outside the car. Make your life simpler and you can replace all the gaskets to prevent future leaks. Youll have everything off it anyhow, just another hour or so to unbolt the motor mounts, tc, and trans and hook up a hoist. oh, just lay your a/c compressor aside, no need to disconnect it. Ive seen quite a few people needlessly pull the lines off the compressor

 

Right, no need to discharge the A/C, just lay the entire assembly off out of the way.

I personally agree with the suggestion to pull the motor; I'm kind of tall though, so bending over to work on things at knee level for hours on end is pretty stressful, but pulling a motor is easy. I guess it depends on how well set up for such things you are: for me, snatching a motor out is a piece of cake, so I prefer to do it that way.

 

Good point, but then again like you said, not every one has the tools to pull a motor. My head swap is goin on behind my bro's house in the dirt.

 

yeah i lack all tools and knowledge to pull an engine, ..ill get some friends to help me with the job i suppose, ...and ill wait til i get my world products heads to put the cam in, ...seems to be easier to do with the heads off. thanks for the insight so far. what parts painted black made your engine have 50 more hp?? i gotta try that lol

 

on the lo3 .. it doesn't. Its easier to make room with the brakets off but i left them all alone. I wasnt in the mood to be hassled with torx bits.

 

lol... i re-painted the airbox. You know, the extra heat absorbed by the flat black paint speeds up the intake charge and gives an additional 50+ hp. Straight from a honda owners mouth. Has to be true, right??? The only special tools i needed was a $200 hoist and a t45 (?) torx bit that cost $.89 from home depot. All the rest was done primarily with an old craftsman toolset and some box end wrenches. of coarse, lets not forget a breaker bar for those stubborn nuts and bolts.

 

lol.. i can agree with RB. I hate leaning over so much i raise the car up just to get it closer to me. the extra few mins to raise it really saves me the agrivation of having to deal with the back and knee pain.

 

that and the pain in the back of the knees, anyone get that?