Hey guys.

My timing chain gasket is starting to leak. my car is a 1986 trans am 305 tpi v8 automatic

to go through the trouble to remove the waterpump and timing cover i figure might as well replace/upgrade my timing chain and gears and if i do that i'm thinking of doing the cam as well.

Should I just get stock replacements or is this an opportunity to upgrade?

this is for a daily summer driver. nothing special about the engine. just ford 19lb injectors and k&n cold induction kit with new sensors and connectors.

I plan on doing this myself because labor is too much.

This will be my first time doing internal engine work. Only done bolt on upgrades/repalcements so far.

I plan on using you guys to give me some tips along with the manuals and maybe a some people who have done this before to get it done.

I don't want to dabble with so many types of different cams I just want to get whatever performance and life I can out of the my engine.

and timing chain/gears and cam is all i'm willing spend for now. no valves/pistons and all that will have to wait until theres more money and the eninge is in more need of work.

as of right now the car starts and runs great for a 22yr old car.

so jsut stick to stock replacements or what guys?

 

I don't know if you have a roller block or not since your car is an 86. But if you wanted to go a bit bigger, I would also consider upgrading the valve springs. If you have a roller block an L98 cam may make a good stock replacement.
I personally went with comp cam xr258hr12, which has been a good upgrade but requires some tuning. When I did this I also had the heads rebuilt with new valve springs and all necessary modifications to ensure that there was enough clearance to accommodate the extra lift.

 

yea i dont know if its roller or not. no time or money for any head or valve job.

just figure with over a 100,000 miles on it and i gota rip so much apart to replace my leaky timing cover gasket i should replace the chain gears and cam.

and i don't want to have to tune a darn thing since im doing this myself as a winter project.

i guess i answered my question.

stock parts as a replacement

 

Whoaa..........do NOT pull the cam AND lifters just to replace with stock parts. That would be a terrible waste of time and money. Either leave them alone (with 100k and regular oil changes, they're probably in excellent condition), or upgrade to an L98 or LT1 type cam.

 

i agree but i want a direct swap in replacement upgrade i dont have time or money to do all the tunning for a specific cam. or is there no other way?

lifters r staying the where they are im only concerned with cam and timing gears
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yea regular oil changes and 107,000 miles on the engine, i dont want to remove the cam, at how many miles should i consider replacing it or when does a stock cam really start to wear down?

 

Keep up with the regular oil changes and your cam and timing set will outlast plenty of parts on your engine.
It sounds like you need to do only what's necessary to fix the leak at this time and leave everything else alone.

 

if you put in new cam (you don't have a roller cam) don't you HAVE to replace the lifters???

(I am talking about a flat tappet cam)

Be 100% sure--I seem to remember my HS shop teacher saying this.

 

Yes.

 

I WOULD swap the cam. The factory cam in my 305 was heavily worn by 125K. Lifters MUST go with the cam, they wear to each other along with the geometry of the block, so in short, they MUST go. I wouldn't put in a stock cam for the 86 TPI 305. Thats the peanut cam. TERRIBLE for performance. The stock 1985 TPI 305 is the same as the 1983-1984 305 HO and is a BIG upgrade from stock. Summit also used to stock a TPI cam kit that is equivalent to the Summit K1102. I ran a Federal Mogul version of the same K1102 cam in my 305 and made over 215 RWHP with stock heads, intake, and Q-Jet.