Cam Swap Done!!! Insight, Advice found within...
Grrrr8 Board -
First and foremost... thank you Charlie. I owe this swap from a motivational standpoint to Gr8Lover, but from a technical standpoint, he came through time and time again. I think there were no less than 30 PMs back and forth, most answered in less than five minutes. Outstanding. The majority of the "tech" info here is actually from his PMs, I take no credit for it, but wanted to save him some PM response time! Also, in general, thank you Grrrr8 board for insight, dipstick pics, etc. True lifesavers!
Yesterday evening I buttoned up my cam swap, I get it tuned next Sunday. I went with a pretty mild cam, but still swapped out all DoD parts and installed a set of ARH 1 7/8 headers. I already have a Rotofab intake and HSRK.
Here are the pointers as I can think of them...
Cost/Tools... If you're doing this yourself, it'll be pricier than you think when you factor tools and consumables! You need at LEAST two torque wrenches, one for in/lbs and one for ft/lbs and potentially a high capacity one for the crank bolt. This will add up. Obviously you'll need a good socket set in metric with standard and deep well. You will need a LARGE socket for the crank bolt, and a different LARGE socket for the stock bolt, as well as a breaker bar, of course. A set of wratcheting wrenches in the common metric sizes is great. I bought a two sided duralast set that worked perfect as it was eight total sizes in all and came in VERY handy. You will need extensions and angle bits. You will need lockjaw pliers, a set of picks. You will need 2 gal of 50/50 dexcool water mix. You will need break-in oil and filter. You'll need an additive with plenty of zinc content, like Lucas Oil breakin w/Zinc. You need plugs for any leaking fuel or trans lines you disconnect.
Install Basics... As has been previously stated, take pictures of EVERYTHING YOU DO. Keep plastic bags and a sharpie to label any and all screws you remove. This made reassembly extremely straightforward.
Nothing has to be forced... NOTHING. The hardest parts were the oil pump physically off of the pickup tube and harmonic balancer. Otherwise, nothing requires a ton of force. If you're forcing, STOP.
Check all parts before you remove... there are harnesses behind, grounding straps, air tubes all connected to the back of the heads/block.
If you're doing headers, you have to loosen the steering knuckle... be careful not to turn/push that too much.
Clean all parts before reinstall... gently. For the heads and gasket surfaces, use a razor at an angle to ensure you don't scratch them at all and only remove extra gasket material.
Use a torch or oven on harmonic dampener. If using the ARP bolt, remove the washer to get it started, but only once it has slid on... do not rely on a bolt to actual get it on the crank.
Pickup tube... not as difficult, but you have to be patient and work carefully. If you choose to take apart the oil pump, you MUST be aware of how you take it apart and ensure it goes back together the same way (front gear facing front before and after, you CAN flop them around backwards but you SHOULD NOT). Also, when you go to start the car the first time... leave the distributors unhooked and crank the car 15seconds 3 times while holding the pedal to the floor. This will prime all oil passages and the injectors wont fire because the pedal is to the floor. Also, during reassembly, put some RTV at the bottom corners of the front cover where it meets the block.
Be extremely careful when pulling out the cam. I removed the radiator, fans, but left the condenser. This required me to bend the condenser forward quite a ways. Be careful when you do this and work quickly to reduce any strain.
Torque values are extremely important... follow them! If you use ARP fasteners, they have their own moly to use, USE IT, and follow their torque values. I used ARP for head bolts, cam sprocket, valley plate, intake, crank bolt. ALSO, USE A THREAD CHASER. You can use the ARP ( I did ) or make your own with a bolt with a channel ground into it. I will tell you that the ARP is worth the cash... after I tried both methods... I used an air compressor to blow out the holes. The ones where I used a bolt were consistently more dirty than the ones with the ARP chaser.
Problem Areas... In no particular order...
Dipstick. I had to really work with this for some reason. I ended up having to run it between the 1/2 primaries at an angle towards the front of the car. I had to fabricate a bracket that set the dipstick support 1in out and 1in up but it works well. Be careful to not damage the oring going in and out for a test fit. I took the oring off during the testing and replaced it right before the last time it went on.
Oil Pan. I may have a slight drip at the rear of the oil pan. All I can say is be VERY careful when lowering the pan and take GREAT care to use the proper torque specs for each of the bolts when remounting... there are three different values... the pan bolts, the pan to rear bolts, and the bellhousing bolts. Also, there is a main power run that runs under the front of the pan. It is held in place by two brackets... one on the left of the pan with a bolt to the block. The other is a bracket that also holds 2 a/c compressor lines... unscrew the nut that holds the a/c lines and then you can remove the stud that holds the power line in place. Makes removing those from bolts easier.
Oil Pickup Tube. I didn't have too much of an issue here... just go slow. When you get the screw out, you will have to "wiggle" the oil pump towards you... this does require some force... but dont get to yankin on it! You'll be surprised how easy it is when it pops off. Inspect the oring for damage.
Exhaust Height. In order to get your ARH system mounted like a champ, do everything loosely, but then tighten headers, rear at axle flanges, slip fittings. Leave balljoints loose. Place a jack under area just behind the balljoints and jack up the exhaust. Now take the flanges and when looking forward from the rear put the screws at 7oclock and 1clock and put the passenger side at 11oclock and 5oclock. Tighten the tops first and the bottoms last. Now go to each clamp... at collectors and after ball joints, loosen and retighten. When you drop the jack, you'll have the fit and clearance you need.
Refill and start up. Put in oil, measure as you go. Add any additive halfway through oil fill. Fill radiator with dexcool then add some to the reserve tank. While watching the radiator, pump the tubes to choke any air out of the system and see if the fluid in the radiator drops. Watch temps VERY closely on startup. Ignore light smoke... as BobtheMonkee said, it's just fingerprints and fluids burning off. For cam break-in, Comp recommends 30 minutes at 2k rpm... I was able to get ten minutes in before overheating and being VERY angry at myself over a coolant mistake. Once fixed, I took a highway drive and kept it at 65mph in 5th @ 2k for 60 miles.
Thats all I can think of now. If anyone wants to tackle this project, please feel free to PM me... I have tons of pics, available on request!
Again, thank you everyone for your help and insight here. I truly appreciate the support of this board, and specifically those that offered insight... the most from Charlie himself!
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Originally Posted by RichsGreyGT
