Best way to check for a pushrod bent is to pull it out and roll it on a known very flat surface. I keep a 1/4 piece of tempered glass just for automatic transmission steel plates, but it doubles as a flat surface for pushrods or whatever.
The only good(?) thing is that a good portion of the metal falls to the bottom of the oil pan and stays there. What stays suspended gets to the oil filter, the downside of that is it has to go thru the oil pump to get there and then some of the really fine stuff gets past the filter.

 

Excellent frame of mind! You can make a lot of happy memories in two years. I will let the other people answer who have done the swap in car. Another thing to steel your mindset. If you pull the engine there will be other things that you will want to fix. Remember stay away from the slippery slope

 

 

SBC cam change is not too bad- all the front of the engine stuff, water pump, balancer, front cover, then the intake/carb/distributor, and rocker covers has to be removed, along with the fuel pump. You also need to remove the radiator and unbolt the a/c condenser so it will move out of the way. Pulling the hood makes things easier.
Officially, you need to loosen the oil pan, but you can get the front cover off by working it off the pins at the bottom, and leaning it forward as you pull up. IT will go back on if you trim the corners of the seal lip on the cover and use a couple of small punches to work it back down on the pan lip and onto the pins. Not fun, but it can be done. I used to do it all the time in my dealer tech days.
You'll probably want to swap the timing chain and gears too.

 

FWIW if the engine appears otherwise to be healthy, ie. good oil pressure and compression, I would have absolutely no reservations about replacing the cam and lifters.

 

It's so easy to get the pan off in a C3, you might as well remove it to clean it out and make the front cover easier, go with a Summit cam kit, very reliable and well priced. The worst part of this job will be removing the radiator.

 

the question is,,,, will it stay at the current level or
continue to wear flat?

tough call for me.
i had a factory one go flat. took a while and was hard for dealer to
find.
car pinged and stunkup the cat verter.
at the time, gm supposedly cheaped out of the blanks
and quite a few 81s lost lobes.
i wish i knew what the service replacement grind was.

so, with bent rod, and no measurement the cam may just last?
you say it runs good, steady vacuum, no noise.

luckily the pan is an easy thing to remove in car
and a leak free cam change is possible.

hard call for me.

 

It is easy to get the pan off a Corvette compared to the other passenger cars and light trucks. I agree. BE a good chance to clean the trash out of the pan too.

 

Gaskets, cam, chain set, lifters,push rods, break in oil, would be about $350 here, give or take. What about in Belgium?

 

Very silly question. I only have experience with a 1973 Chevelle (and a 1971 Karmann Ghia); what makes removing the pan so easy on a corvette?

 

There is no cross member right under the pan.

30% is better than I thought.

If I bought a British car part here. easy double.

 

Slippery slope hahhaaahaaaa it's a cliff. Seriously though. I bought a 74 Stingray last fall. Idled smooth, had OK power, but when I pulled plugs found #8 wet, and #6 so fouled out, it couldn't fire. Pulled the top end apart and found a flat lobe on #8. I think it was the intake lobe. The bottom of the lifter looked like a bowl. Anyway, I have a stock L48, with 2.5" crimped exhaust and a Q jet. Well, I needed to seal the engine back up, as it leaked from everywhere. Lol. I put in a .444 / .465 lift 214/ 224 duration 112* separation can kit from Summit, I think its a K1103 kit. I also replaced the valve springs. Put it all back together, and it runs great. Even with a 3.08 rear. The saving grace is its a four speed, so I don't have to worry about a torque converter. Depending on your particular transmission and exhaust, that might be a good combination. But if you have an automatic trans and/ or restrictive exhaust, that might not be the best can choice. Summit also has there copy of the Edelbrock performer can. Its an 1102.
As far as metal in the motor, if you are worried or would just like Peace of Mind, drop the pan (unbolt the idler arm and let the center drag link droop down out of the way) and pull a main bearing cap and see what condition it is in, cause IMHO, if metal is in one, it's in all of them. If the bearing looks good, put in a new cam, lifters and springs, seal the motor up and have fun.
Easiest way I know to swap a cam is pull the hood, radiator (gotta be mean to it to get it out and back in, sometimes) drop the pan as mentioned , pull damper, timing cover, chain, etc..
I kind of tripped over the cliff this winter. I was just going to finish finding all the po mistakes and correct them, but now I've got some aluminum heads, bigger cam, headers, intake.........
A good service manual will be a tremendous help also.
​​​​​​​Later, jw

 

Good morning Gentlemen,

Thank you for your invaluable feedback. Really.

There's an expression in French which roughly translates as: the night brings good counsel.

Having slept on this, I think the best course of action is to pull the engine. One reason is of course to be able to carefully swap out the cam, flush then engine and ensure a leak-free reassembly. The other reasons include:
- timing tab needs to be properly mounted. I may have to helicoil a bolt hole; it will be safer to do that with the engine out.
- There is an intake bolt missing front passenger side
- I have a power-brake conversion kit to install, it will be easier with the engine out.
- wiring I can clean up
- clean up and inspect the engine bay;
- possibly swap in a borgeson while I am at it. It probably will be much easier to do like this...

This evening I will pull the intake (an open plenum Torker first generation). I will pull and inspect the lifters individually. If they are fine - no biggie, I'll swap in a better intake... If they are not... I pull the engine.

I also need to determine what caused the cam lobe to wipe.

I will limit my work to cleaning up, a new cam with lifters and a new timing chain. I'd rather get this back on the road fast and save up for a the expense of a crate later on.

 

One advantage is that the Euro-Dollar exchange rate is in Europe's favor for the moment...

 

Shipping quickly ruins that though.
Im buying shorty headers from summit ( 130$)
Shipping is 110$ and tax was something around 50$ according to summits website. (On the plus side, I could buy a lot of other parts without upping the shipping cost. Maybe its time to buy my new intake and engine dress up kit etc 😅

 

Ha ! A compatriot !!! Pleased to meet you !

Yes, there is a certain amount of in-elasticity when it comes to shipping. Smaller items can be expensive to ship where as additional bulk is not much more. Likely I'll be doing a Summit order soon; they have served me well over the years. Keep in touch? There might be a way to share/split shipping if that is cost-effective.

 

The other downside is that there's a filter bypass valve that opens when the oil is cold allowing a good bit of the oil to circulate unfiltered.

 

Would tightening the rocker arm eliminate the clacking/ticking?

 

I'd probably run it until you're ready with the other mill. A good bit of the metal will already be embedded in the bearings and most of the rest is in the filter. Since it still has good oil pressure, it probably hasn't done a lot of damage. I wouldn't pour a lot of money into something that you just need to last until the new, improved engine is finished. Use that cam and lifter money to help offset the cost of going hydraulic roller in the new one and call it a lesson learned. Anything you dump into this old mill will be gone for good as soon as you lift it out of the frame rails.

 

It will- for a while, Once a pushrod is bent, the majority of it's strength is gone. It will continue to bend.