I don't really know anything about camshafts yet, but i am goin to learn. Anyway I hear people replace there cams a lot for better performance etc. I was watching a video(from JC Whitney or summit) on how to reabuild an engine and the guy was taking the engine apart and the Camshaft was the very last piece to come out. So can you replace the cam without taking apart the engine or what. Explain please. I know i sound dumb but, you learn by asking questions so answer it please. thanx

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no car, just savin for a fbody, i am 16 not to much money, I am shooting for a late 80's early 90's 350, iroc or z28.

 

you dont have to strip it down complelty, you do need to remove a bit tho (all the intake stuff, valve covers, front cover, radiator, etc..) camshaft swap is one forsure a great upgrade on a stock car and getting the right one is important to making maximum performance.

 

How long does it take? tell me more about his please. I hear a lot of times when people swap a cam they get a new intake manifold, i believe. you can put a new intake manifold in without getting a new cam right? How hard is it to install it?

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no car, just savin for a fbody, i am 16 not to much money, I am shooting for a late 80's early 90's 350, iroc or z28.

 

I would give a rough estimate of maybe four to five hours for a camshaft change in these cars. It involves draining the cooling system, removing the radiator, water pump, intake, intake manifold, timing cover, chain, and gears, valve covers, rocker arms, pushrods and lifters. It sounds like a lot more work than it is.

You can swap intake manifolds without changing the camshaft. It only involves removing the intake, replacing and resealing. Fuel lines have to be drained and some coolant will spill, but its not too tough. If you're replacing the intake, you might as well go a little farther and replace your cam and timing components.

 

For a first timer I'd wager it will take you a weekend to do a cam, not four to five hours. There is quite a bit to remove as said above, but none of it is too much of a problem. You'll probably need to rent a couple of tools as well, such a harmonic damper puller and a gear puller.


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1985 ASCD Ram Air Trans Am 350/5spd Pro Action heads, Comp cams XR282, Edelbrock Air Gap, if it can be changed it has Readers Ride at https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=1067

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Karps is right, count on a first-time cam swap taking a whole weekend, if you have somebody who knows what they're doing helping you out. If you don't, plan on 2 weekends. The reason is that you always run into a million little details that will stop you; everything from breaking vacuum lines to stuck bolts to stripped bolt holes to forgetting something to the A/C hassle to getting the distributor lined up if you're not familiar with how to do that... the list goes on. It's not a hard job as such, you just end up turning an awful lot of bolts and disturbing nearly every piece on the whole top of the engine, so there's lots of opportunities for the unforeseen.

You can tear an engine down in all sorts of orders, including leaving the cam in until last. Usually I take it out before the crank and pistons, but it will work fine either way.

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