What is the procedure on a 77 l-82

 

The first thing is the radiator and the AC condenser MUST come out. If you have other issues (oil pan leak, painting the engine bay, painting the engine, rear main seal, etc) it may be easier just to pull the engine.

Essentially, all the front accessories have to come off, intake manifold and the entire valve train, water pump, timing chain, distributor, just to get to the cam and lifters.

 

^^^^this^^^^

 

Step 1, pull the engine, so step 0 is pull the hood and radiator.

Here's a writeup of someone doing it the hard way, heads and cam without pulling the engine. The fun starts at post #7.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ld-thread.html

 

Here’s my step by step instructions for the whole heads, cam, and intake I did a few years ago. +4 for pulling the engine though if you can.

 

I have done it both ways. Pulling the engine is good if you have other things to do along with the cam but the last time it was done in-car.

Remove the hood, depopulate the front of the engine, tilt the core support forward, remove shroud and radiator. Leave A/C condenser hooked up but you must swing it up and towards the passenger side being careful not to trash the refrigerant lines. It's pretty straight forward after that.

 

It's not that hard. Pulling the engine certainly makes it easier, but it's not necessary, and the labour you save by pulling the engine is more than made up for in pulling the engine. I find the biggest hassle is the fact that the timing chain cover engages the oil pan, and the only correct way to take the timing cover off is to remove the pan first. It can be done without dropping the pan, but it's not ideal. I have seen all kinds of tricks. Most involve grinding part of the timing cover seal retaining lip off, copious amounts of silicone, and a timing cover that leaks forever after. If you do remove the pan, install a two-piece timing chain cover so you can swap out the cam in the future without the hassle.
And note you do not need to remove the heads to swap the cam.

 

I've done it in the car. Can't see any good reason to pull the engine. And then you need a place to put a engine stand and engine. I certainly don't have that luxury. Unless I want to put the car outside. I find just leaning the air-con condenser forward about an inch or so is enough.
And yes. Dropping the oil pan is the only correct way to do it. You will likely want to do timing chain and sprockets at the same time. I'm thinking no one mentioned pulling the harmonic balancer. But that certainly needs to come off as well.

 

Another advantage to pulling the engine is it will make the whole process of degreeing in the cam easier - if you plan on doing it.
Pat

 

I am literally finishing this up and this was the first time I did it. Of necessity I did it in the car and it wasn't too bad. A Quickjack made it a whole lot easier because I could easily move it from the 1' to 2' lock positions, very handy. Haven't started it yet, I injured myself and that will take a little while yet.

I degreed my cam with this: JEGS Precision Cam Degree Wheel Kit 555-81621
This is was necessary after the balancer was removed: Crank Turning Socket Small Block Chevy 555-80740

The degree wheel kit can be used with the heads on or off and also has lightweight check springs that I used to check piston to valve clearance while I had the degree wheel on. Even though the cam I chose is relatively mild I have domed pistons and this was absolutely necessary.

You'll need to check pushrod length and those lightweight springs are helpful for that too. I don't have the experience to tell you if reusing these things on a new cam is wise or not but you might just reassemble it (making sure the pushrods and rockers go back to the same spot they came from) and set zero lash and see if they'll work with the new cam. You'll need new lifters anyway and in my case I needed longer pushrods so I just used a new set of OEM type rockers, they're not that expensive. Personally, I'd use new.

Also ask the cam manufacturer about valve springs. In my case the ones the Edelbrock heads came with were too heavy and I needed to change them.

If you change springs or install the lightweight checkers you'll need a small compressor to pressurize the cylinder to hold the valve up when you remove the spring. I used part of my compression check kit to connect the compressor. Also need valve spring remover. The cheap flat bars are relatively useless, don't bother. I'd also stuff a couple rags where the oil in the head drains down and have some extra keepers handy because without doubt one of them will go 'poink' and vanish into the fourth dimension. If the factory rods aren't right you'll need that stuff to swap in the lightweight springs anyway.

Hope this helps. Will trade Corvette parts for painkillers about now....................