it seems like a very common swap I don't know a ton about engines but I am going to school for High Performance Engine building soon so I really want to learn things...anyway I have a 89 350 TPI what does it take to swap and is there anything that you would do as long as you are already doing th swap??

John D.

 

you can't swap a cam yourself unless you have the machines to to do it, taking it out is the easy part but putting it back in & setting it up needs machining if i'm not mistaken.

 

SURE you can!

 

Machining what? You pull the lifters out, pull the cam out, put the new cam in and put the new lifters in. Well, if it's a roller you can reuse lifters.

 

that is what I was thinking I have only done it once and that was on a 89 daytona 2.5l .

John D.

 

I thought you had to remove the Heads. How do you keep the Push Rods from falling?

 

Oh jesus...

 

No you don't have to take the heads off. Take the intake off, rockerarms off/loose, take the pushrods out, lifters too, waterpump, timing chain cover etc. I have never done a cam swap but it has to be a bitch to change it w/ the motor in the car! Plus there is a chance of messing the cam bearings up when you pull the old cam out/ stick the new one in. I would sooooo let a pro install my cam until I know more about it.

 

Does anyone know roughly what it should cost to have a cam put in. Assuming I already had the cam, just didn't have the time to learn about doing it

 

most places will do it for 150 maybe 200 for the tpi intake since there is so much more to take off. you might get lucky and get a better deal than that it just depends on the shop really.
Andrew

 

The first 'mod' I ever did to a car was a Cam Swap.

Motor is still running strong 50,000 later, Must not have done a horrible job....


That was in-car, too.


I seriously didnt know what the **** I was doing when I did it, I just put everything back where I took it from, and asked on msg boards when I got confused.

Are you as Cool as me ?

Well You will have to decided if you want to find out... hahaha.


I don't think it was the optimal first experiance job, but its not horrible.

Just goes to show its not all that hard.



As far as things I would do whilst I was in there, Port your Plenum, Siamese the Base, and Replace the Valve guides and Valve springs.


Good Luck

 

It was a joke dude relax.

 

Whew.

 

just don't let someone break off the harmonic balancer puller in your crank - its the reason my camaro has been in the drive way for 11 months

hah - actually this is the first time i've been back here in almost a year...

 

Welcome back. I was thinking about changing my cam myself too. My buddy just did it so I figure he could help me if I get in trouble. Have some friends help you. perferably some that know what they are doing.

 

the friend thing is how mine broke -

 

i hit the floor laughing when i read that....

 

Are their any instructions available for swapping a cam? I didn't think it was so complicated.