Hello,

sorry if its been discussed here or not, I tried searching and didn't find what I was looking for...

I have a 1992 Camaro with an older Chevy 350 engine. I have the top end of my engine torn down in the car to replace the lifters and push rods. I got all the lifters out except ONE. For some reason it will not come out of the lifter bore. So I've come to the conclusion that I will have to remove the camshaft and let this lifter fall through and out the bottom of the engine.

My question is, is it possible to remove the camshaft with the engine still in the car, or will I have to remove the engine to do that?

 

You really want to avoid doing that unless you want to pull the motor and drop the oil pan to retrieve it. Have you removed the timing chain and spun the cam to raise it in order to get a better grip on the lifter? Repeated snatching on the lifter with vise grips and penetrating oil on it SHOULD free it.

 

Yes you can do it in the car. You will have to remove the vertical piece under the hood latch, at least partially.

Lifters basically don't "go bad" and "need replacement" all by themselves out of the blue. I suspect you are wasting your time.

Expect to find the bottom of the lifter in question mushroomed and the cam lobe completely fornicated, especially if all the others same out easily but only the one is impossible. Expect also that if that has happened, the engine is full of metal shavings, and if it isn't already blown up, will blow up soon from metal chips in the bearings destroying the crank. Rolling off a cam lobe is not a happy thing.

Yes you will have to lower the oil pan slightly to get the timing cover off and back on. Doesn't have to be completely removed although sometimes it's hard to make it quit leaking, if the gasket gets damaged in the process.

If you see chips in the oil, don't even bother buttoning it back up; waste of a perfectly good set of gaskets and 5 quarts of oil.