Originally Posted by blk04z

How is it done. Going to be doing a head cam swap myself but have no idea how it is done or what tools are needed. Could I bring it to a shop with a trailer have it done then finish her up at home?

Originally Posted by NSTG8R

sorry to hi-jack the thread a bit .. but how do you stop the shavings off the piston from going into the block?

Originally Posted by Roostertail

Check out this how-to using the Isky tool. Makes it look pretty easy

http://www.ihearyou.com/~tony/pictur...nsIskyTool.pdf

Originally Posted by NSTG8R

.. that's an amazing guide.

thanks.

Originally Posted by ArKay99

There is not a ton of them. There are 2 ways that I know of:
1) With the head still mounted stick a shop-vac up against the spark plug hole and it will pull almost all of them out. Then...
2) Remove the head very carefully, and they won't move unless you have a fan blowing on you, and you can vacuum them off the top of the piston with the shop-vac.
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I did the later. No problems with shavings going into the block. Just don't do a Woody Allen and sneeze and blow them all over the place!
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Also I've seen where duct tape was placed over the piston and coolant holes, but it wasn't necessary in my case.

Originally Posted by SpeedyZ

Yep

Here is the result, these are .080 cuts at the far deep end. Normally you only have to notch the intake, but I did both while it was apart. I wanted to play with cam timing some day and wanted lots of room to play.



This is the intake cutter tool in the head. Since LG screwed me on the tool, I had to buy a used set of LS1 heads to use as the holder. I did clean up the heads before I used them!



On the last two valves in the back you will need an angle drill to clear under the windshield. All others I used a standard Milwaukee cordless drill. Notice the collar around the pilot just above the valve guide. You can adjust this to the height you want and as long as all the guides are the same in the head you will get the same results. That seems to be fairly close but I didn't trust them. I set it a little short them pulled the head and measured, reinstalled the head and touched it just a bit to get exactly .080 deep cuts. Fairly slow speed and light pressure is all you need, they cut pretty fast, just don't let them chatter. If they start to chatter just apply a little more pressure or change the speed just a bit.




This is the cutter itself. The pilot is a ground shaft the size of a valve stem with an end that looks like a 1/4" extension. It snaps into the back of the cutter much like an extension in a socket. Factory these cutter have a square corner on the backside. I have no idea why they build the cutter that way but normally you have to remove the seats from a old head to use the cutter. I chucked my cutter in a lathe and ground (they are very hard, probably too hard to cut) off the corner at a 45 degree angle just like a valve. This way the cutter will fit up into the head without removing the seats. I have not idea why they don't put a 45 on the back of the tool at the factory.