Is there a old post about in car cam swaps? I've been searching for about 2 hours and have had no luck. I'm looking at a job involving changing a cam in car, L98 getting new heads, cam, intake, and carb. Is there maybe a tech article on in car cam swaps? Any info would be great!

 

I don't know about what kind of in depth posts there are but I inquired about it a while age and you can do it as long as you pull the radiator and a/c coil. Just be care ful not to nick the cam bearings when you slide the cam out.

 

So after pulling the radiator there was enough room to work with the cam? Seems a bit cramped to me.... Anything else to offer???

 

Just have to remove the radiator and a/c condenser, then move 2 support bars out of the way and the cam will come out.

 

yea, i'll tell you, with no radiator/fanshroud...there's a ton of room, looks like you could almost fit another engine in there...

 

Cool, thanks guys! I'll keep you informed on how it goes!

 

it might be more helpful to pull the grill and then pull the cam out from the front.

 

you have to remove the heads also when doing a cam swap right?? i forgot

 

no u dont have to remove the heads

 

u might want to take off the intake manifold otherwise your lifters will fall into the engine and u will play hell getting them out. that is if u arent installing new lifters which u should cuz they are cheap insurance.

 

Yes you must remove the intake manifold, unless you get pushrods with magnets on them(16). But I doubt that would be worth the effort heh. Don't pull the grill off, why make it harder for yourself?

You should remove things (in this order):

disconnect battery
remove radiator cap
remove radiator drain plug/stopcock(drain the coolant)
remove radiator/hoses, condenser/ac lines
remove upper intake plenum/runners
disconnect fuel lines(relieve pressure first or cover fittings with a towel to absorb fuel(clean stuff with it later))
remove valve covers, push rods/rocker arms(and accessories/diverter valve/heater control valve that are in the way)
distributor, intake manifold
spider(lifter hold down) and lifters
crank pulley
water pump
harmonic balancer
timing cover/chain
disconnect support bars and slide them down
carefully pull out the camshaft, spinning it if it gets hung up and taking care not to damage the cam bearings in the block

To correctly reinstall the timing cover you'll need to drop the oil pan a bit. You'll also need new intake gaskets, water pump gaskets, rtv, coolant..and I can't remember anything else right now.

It would be a good time to flush your coolant, change the thermostat or any sensors on the intake manifold, change the radiator hoses, timing chain and gears, water pump, and a number of other things I also can't remember

Good luck.

 

I should also mention that I will be adding the Performer RPM Vortec head kit from SDPC, which means I will be adding plenty of new goodies! And I have one more question, maybe you guys can help. The cam I was looking at was the LT4 Hotcam, but I have been looking and found 2 other GM cams that I never seen before. One is the 350 High Performance, and the other is the 350 ZZZ.

So the question is, compared to the HotCam, what could one expect performance wise? The specs for each are:

350 High Perf: .539"/.558" 234/242 dur @.050" Lobe sep 112*
350ZZZ : .480"/.480" 235/235 dur @.050" lobe sep 114*

Now I'm no cam wiz, but wouldn't the 350H.P. be a more radical cam, and the ZZZ a street cam? Would either be too much for the upgraded Vortec heads, and Perf RPM Intake, and 750 Holley?


P.S. I should mention those lift numbers were with 1.5 rockers, forgot to add that in