I have an 88 305 tpi auto, & it has about 110,000 miles.

I was wondering if the engine can take a cam swap at this point.
Dont want to risk loosing my engine at this point. Now Ive taken good care of it up to this point but I feel like it has a lot of miles.
what do you guys think?

 

Don't see why not. Why would you risk losing your engine by doing a cam swap at 110,000 miles?

 

it just seems to me that 110,000 miles is a lot.

 

You can install a camshaft at any point in an engine's life; however, it is waste of money with a worn out engine. Do a compression test to see what is going on in the cylinders. An engine with 110,000 miles is starting to get a little tired. It is not so much the cam that will make you loose your engine, rather it is how you drive it. A new cam could put added strain on old valve springs, valves and the rest of the valve train. If you are going to go to the expense of installing a camshaft with this many miles on the engine you would look at rebuilding it while it is out.

 

Thats what scares me, the extra strain on old parts. & for a rebuild I would rather get a better engine. Guess Ill probably leave it how it is.

 

Can you elaborate a little on that? I don't see how driving style is going to reduce engine life if you install a cam at this point in time.

Regardless, you really should be changing valve springs on pretty much any cam swap. Stock springs were barely inadequate on the stock cam when new.

Your engine is most likely a hydraulic roller block being an 88. If you rebuild the engine later on down the road, you can reuse the cam without compromising anything. Hydraulic rollers show very little wear with time.

 

Not trying to steal this post but it may help you out anyways 92Blue. but I was wondering, also, my car has almost 200,000 miles on it (197,000) and I'm thinking about a cam as well but I'm gonna do it when I have other work done. So my question, if I have my heads reworked, (ported and polished, new valve springs etc.) is there anything else I would need to do before I put a new cam in?

 

Jschoepf, that depends on the cam specs. If you are going to get headwork and plan on getting a cam, pick your cam out before you get the headwork done. You need to pick a set of valve springs according to the manufacturers specs on the cam card. If you have a high lift cam, you may need to trim the top of the valve guides otherwise you could have a retainer smack the top of one. Thats not good.

Once you get springs to match your cam, if the required spring pressures are high (as they are with moderate/aggressive cams), then you are going to need either screw in studs, or pin the rocker studs. Otherwise, you risk pulling out a rocker stud, since they are pressed in at the factory.

 

Well, I did a search for camshafts and it took me to this post, didnt' realize it was TPI but I guess it doesn't matter, I have a 305 4bbl.

So other than the head work, valve spring to match cam etc. The rest of the motor should hold up you think?

 

What I was getting at was how the car is driven is what is going to make him “loose his engine” rather than simply installing a camshaft. With this many miles on the engine lots of racing and red lining, with or without the camshaft, will wear out the engine as opposed to normal driving. It his driving style rather than the camshaft that will wear out his engine, especially a higher mileage engine, rather then simply installing a camshaft.