To start off, you need to get the engine down to its bare self. That means, intake off (whatever it may be, Carb, TPI, TBI, or otherwise), belt driven accessories out of the way. The water pump has to come off, so drain the coolant. I like to remove all the front accessories; it just makes for more room. All that is really needed is to be able to remove the timing cover which means the water pump. You can unbolt the rest and just slide them out of the way. If the engine is out of the car, then you have it easy. If you have the means to yank it, I would suggest doing so. It makes for much easier maneuvering of the cam. However, if the engine is in the car, it’s a bit harder, but it can be done. You need to get the radiator out as well as the A/C condenser; it can slide to the side. The bars that form the “X” in front of the radiator, they will be in the way, however, they can just be lifted when you pull the cam. Loosen all the oil pan bolts so the pan hangs about ½” in the front. It may be necessary to raise the engine a bit. Alternatively, you can hack off the lip that seals on the oil pan (back of timing cover). Do it cleanly and it can be sealed up with lots of RTV. I’ve never done it this way, though. The objective here is to clear about 2’ in front of the engine for the cam to slide out through. It doesn’t need a big hole, just big enough to slide a cam in and out of. I got mine out right through the vertical support. Once you have the front cleared off, go ahead and remove the intake. It is up to you to get that off. Remove the distributor before doing so. No need to mark the position or whatnot. Just unbolt the hold down clamp and yank. If it is a roller cam, once the intake is off, remove the hold down spider at this time. The dog bone retainers can come off as well. Leave the lifters in their bores for now. Remove the valve covers. Loosen the rocker arms enough so that you can rotate them off of the pushrods. If they are going back in, keep them in the proper order so that they can go in their correct slots.

Assuming you have all the accessories off, including the water pump, remove the balancer pulley. 3 bolts hold it to the balancer. They are 9/16”hex headed bolts. The balancer bolt itself is a 5/8” hex. Once the outer 3 bolts are removed, the pulley can be removed. May take a bit, but it usually comes off without much fuss. Once the center bolt has been removed, thread in the balancer removal tool and screw in the 3 attachment bolts into the balancer. Remove the balancer per the tool's instructions. Now that you have exposed the timing cover, the timing cover can now be removed. The oil pan must be lowered or removed. If the engine is out of the car and on a stand, remove the pan. If the engine is in the car, jack the engine up and loosen, not remove, just loosen the pan bolts enough so that the timing covers lip is exposed. Once it is exposed, the cover can be removed. Place rags or duct tape over the oil holes and all other parts and use a gasket removal tool and possibly some aerosol gasket remover and remove all traces of the timing cover gasket. Take a crankshaft rotating tool (a special socket that slips over the crankshafts snout and provides a ratchet point) and rotate the engine until the cam sprocket and crank gear are lined up at dot to dot positioning. This is for ease of reassembly. Once you have them lined up, remove the cam sprocket. 3 bolts hold the cam sprocket to the camshaft and the timing chain. A gear puller is required for the crank sprocket. If you have a mechanical fuel pump, unbolt the pump and remove the fuel pump pushrod. The cam is going nowhere if that pushrod is in place.

A camshaft installation tool greatly aids in cam removal and installation. It provides additional leverage to help keep the cam level when removing it. Your goal here is to get the cam out WITHOUT scratching the bearings. Before you yank the cam, rotate it (while it is still installed). This will raise and lower the lifters. Remove them as they pop up. Now that they are out, lay a clean towel across the lifter valley to prevent stuff from falling into it. Now, gently rotate the cam as you carefully pull it out. If it feels like it is getting stuck, stop and inspect to make sure that you aren’t leaving anything (like a fuel pump pushrod). Do not force it. By rotating it, it will eventually work its way out. Once the cam is out, inspect the cam bearing journals for excessive wear, etc. Now is the time to identify any faults in the camshaft bearings/oiling system. If you have a hydraulic flat tappet cam, inspect the lobes and the lifters; make sure there is no abnormal wear indicating valve train issues. If it is a hydraulic roller cam, remove the lifters and inspect the body for any abnormal wear. Spin the roller bearing to make sure it properly functions. Once all have been verified as O.K., set them aside for re-use. Flat tappet lifters cannot be re-used as they have a specific wear pattern that is coinciding to the wear pattern on the cam lobes. Pick up a bottle of cam lube. I have an 8 oz. bottle of Comp Cams lube on hand. If this is a flat tappet cam, apply the cam lube on all lobe surfaces. If you use the Comp jelly, use a relatively ample amount, without going overboard. If you use a thicker kind, such as Crane’s or Lunati’s, just smear it around (of the 3, I personally like Crane’s and Lunati’s as they seem to be “thicker” and stick to the lobe a little better). You don’t want to use too much on the lobes so that you avoid clogging the oil passages, but you want to ensure even coating of the lobe surface. Apply assembly lube to the journals and cam gear rather than the cam lube. Again, use the camshaft installation/removal tool to keep the cam as level as you can as you re-install it. If this is a hydraulic roller cam, use assembly lube on the journals and 30w oil on the lobes. Roller cams don’t require the break in period like flat tappet cams do. Just be sure to get a liberal coating. Avoid synthetic oil for all new camshafts. I like to dip my hydraulic roller lifters in 30w as well, to get a good coat on the roller as well as the lobe. The installation here is identical to the flat tappet. Carefully rotate as you gently push the cam into the block. Once the cam is in, bolt it down (don’t torque it, just attach it enough to keep it firmly seated). Rotate the camshaft so the cam and crank gears line up at dot to dot again. Carefully remove the cam sprocket and attach the timing chain. If you are careful, you can install the cam sprocket and chain without disturbing the cam. A small bead-line of assembly on the rear contact surface of the cam sprocket never hurts. If you do disturb it a bit, use a small screwdriver and gain leverage on the dowel pin and rotate it. It takes some twisting, but it can be done. Once everything is stationed, torque everything down. The cam sprocket bolts get 20 ft-lbs.

Once that is in place, you can now put the new timing cover gasket back on. I like to smear a thin line of black RTV on both sides of the gasket to make a good seal. It’s not needed, but added insurance. Don’t forget to put the oil pan seal back on the bottom side of the timing cover lip. I like a thin bead of RTV here, too. Torque the cover bolts to 7 ft-lbs.

Inspect the balancer if you have not already done so. Make sure the inertia ring is properly in place and has not slipped. If it has, your etched timing mark more than likely has slipped and a new balancer is needed. If the balancer checks out ok, apply a healthy dose of grease on the outer side of the hub, as well as the inner. Do this on a new balancer as well, if a new one was needed. This aids in the installation process. The outer coating prevents the damage of the timing cover seal and the inner layer makes balancer installation go a bit better. Use the proper balancer installation tool to install the balancer. Do NOT, I repeat NOT, use the balancer bolt to pull the balancer on. You risk damaging the threads that way. Once on, torque the balancer bolt down to 60 ft/lbs.

Moving to the top end; the lifter valley. Remove the towel. Install the lifters. If they are flat tappet, apply a coating of cam lube to the face of the lifter (the part that comes in contact with the cam lobe). That risks the clogging of the oil passage which can prevent the hydraulic lifter being “hydraulic.” You may want to do this step before you put the timing chain on so you can rotate the cam and lifters to make sure everything moves as it should. If you do this, just be sure to line it up dot to dot again. Once you’ve done this, the intake can be bolted up. Use the appropriate china wall gaskets. I like to smear a thin bead of RTV on both sides of the china wall gaskets to hold them in place during installation. I also place a thin bead on the head side of the intake gaskets themselves. This also is to hold them in place during installation. It is really annoying to be positioning an intake manifold and have the rear china wall gasket come off. Once the intake is on, follow the tightening sequence (starting in the center of the sides, alternating sides, and working your way out). Torque down to 30 ft-lbs.

Now reinstall the distributor. Since you installed the cam at dot to dot line up, install the distributor pointing to the #6 cylinder. Yes, dot-dot is TDC for #1. But, keep in mind, there are 2 TDC positions per combustion cycle. TDC compression and TDC exhaust. Dot-dot is TDC exhaust on #1 and TDC firing for #6. So put the rotor to the #6 terminal. Tighten the hold down clamp enough so the distributor can’t wobble around. But leave it loose enough so you can twist it if you need to. Now, reinstall the pushrods and rocker arms. You can set the valve lash now via the rotate the crank method now, or you can wait and do it with the engine running later. Up to you. I like to do mine now with the crank. I accomplish 2 things while doing this (especially a wise choice if you upgraded to 1.6 rockers or got new valve springs for this). If you did either or both of those, then you can check for spring binding and clearance issues between the guide slot in the head and the pushrod (if using factory rod guidance). Basically, while setting lash, now you can inspect to make sure everything moves as it should, rather than having to do it all again later.

If you have not already done so, you can reinstall the water pump now. Using the gasket remover/scraper method, clean the gasket surfaces before reinstallation. New gaskets can be had at any major parts store. I like a thin smearing of black RTV here as well to hold the gaskets while installing the pump. The rest of the accessories can be bolted up at this point as well. It’s pretty much an issue of “Installation is reverse of removal” now. Just be sure to add more coolant as the engine circulates. Filling the tanks does not account for the several quarts that are inside the block.

If it starts, break in the cam if it’s a flat tappet. If it’s a roller, you’re done (since they don’t require break in). If it doesn’t start, did you hook all the electronics back up and position the distributor at #6, not #1? After that, you’re on your own.

Good luck, Stekman