nullpointer

Well I thought I might make a build thread, since I've seen a few others posting up their cam installs.

Starting the build



Intake, bumper, hood off car



TB, radiator out



Intake manifold, PS unit, rack, water pump, balancer out


Timing cover off



old vs new

nullpointer

SNL v4 going in


valve springs change



All valve springs changes, wooden dowels holding lifters up



New cam in, dot to dot



Ported/shimmed oil pump on

nullpointer

Hell must have frozen over because I FINALLY received the correct balancer from TSP (4th time is a charm )



Now I am just waiting on my hawk installation tool, and I need to get to Autozone to get belts.

6pk1970 is what I read I needed along with 4pk1040

1powdercoater

Wow, you took the whole front end off just about. Thanks for posting this stuff

nullpointer

Yep, I needed to get the front bumper painted so I said what the hell and took it off and no problem, nice to get C5 builds out in the wild because we need to keep this section alive

danziger

Great work! Looks like a fun install!

Paul 75 L82

WOW, I didn't even take off the hood.

nullpointer

Thanks, it's been a lot a fun working on it with my dad. Annoying part is waiting for parts.


Makes working on it a bit easier, but I know it's going to be a PITA to get back on

nullpointer

Too my surprise I got the hawk installation tool today, which means the balancer should be on tomorrow and I *might* be firing her up by Sunday

jake07Z06

Ya, my hood came off lol. Good to see you decided to do a write up! Seems we are almost right on pace with eachother! Im hoping to fire by friday if all goes well! Nice pics btw!!!

ajrothm

Good write up!

Post up the numbers after you get it tuned...

soroZ

since I might be attempting a cam swap myself shortly, I am curious on this write up, care to elaborate a bit more on the install? some tips etc

Edmond

Is installing the hood back on the hard part or is aligning it the hard part?

nullpointer

I followed the guide at ls1howto.com for the C5 heads and cam swap (minus the head swap).

Some overall tips I had are

1. As you remove bolts put them in plastic bags and label them.
2. Make sure you have all new gaskets
3. Taking the hood off helps with access (front bumper too)
4. A breaker bar + long pipe are very helpful when taking the stock crank bolt off
5. When changing valve springs the proper compressing tool used with the air compressor feeding the cylinder via the spark plug location works great.

I got the following tip from a member on another forum

"Tighten down the bottom two timing cover bolts first, then the rest."

Once I start reassembly I will post some tips I found during that process. Overall it's much easier than I thought it would be and I'm not a mechanic by trade. Shoot me some questions if you have any and I will post more details.



I will find out on Saturday, but just based on taking the hood off I know its going to be a PITA putting it back on.

Paul 75 L82

I don't think that any of us are mechanics by trade, we tear in to a LS motor and install a cam and reassemble the complete motor and we think that installing the hood is the hardest part. LOL

nullpointer

LOL I'm adding that to my sig

MR Turco

why did you take the intake manifold off?

nullpointer

To remove the AIR tubes

nullpointer

So I did an hour of work tonight (going to finish Saturday) and got the harmonic balancer installed. The Hawk tool helped a lot, it was worth the $50 which I was skeptical of when I purchased it.





Turning the bolt 140 degrees was a PITA. I broke a 24mm socket (bought some new craftsmen sockets to finish it up) and bent a craftsman breaker bar (it was thin though compared to the one I used to finish it up)

Paul 75 L82

Looking good. Looks like its going to be a fun weekend.