You are making great progress!

 

It's guys like you that keep this place interesting. Great job of documenting the swap, not just for you to go back & look at, but more for everyone else to watch start to end, good job, with the wrench & the camera, thank you

 

WOW Deja Vu!!!

Just completed a heads and cam change last week. Same heads!

Good luck!

 

UPDATE:

Well... I knew things were going to smooth. I got the passenger side head on there and wanted to check PTV so I stuck two rocker arms, pushrods on cylinder #2 and started turning the motor by hand.... and what do ya know? I have PTV . So I'm thinking.. hey I must have been off on installing the cam (dot to dot method) so I took off the head and un-buttoned the front and checked. Nope - dot to dot install looks perfect. Cam Gear 6'oclock - Timing Sprocket 12'oclock (just like in the picture I posted). And if I crank the motor one more time 360 degrees (without heads) and cam gear is at 12 'oclock and timing sprocket is at 12 'oclock. So basically when dot to dot cylinders #1 and #6 are TDC. That sounds good to me and it looked fine.

So I put the heads on again- thinking since the pushrods and rockers are on there "maybe" I need to give a little more gentle force to get it going. Well... that didn't work out. So I thought "hey if it looks like I installed the cam right let me see if it clears my stock heads"... nope still got PTV.

So I took the cam gear off and did everything all over again just to reassure myself. Completed the dot to dot perfect (quadruple checked and I even climbed up onto the car so I could see it head on - I also brought a toothpick to line it up.) Everything looked good.

Tried both sets of heads AGAIN (this is the 3rd time) And I'm still getting PTV. My cam is not huge by any means and my heads are not milled drastically (specs are in the first post if you are curious). So now I'm stuck. What the hell am I missing ? Is there some secret trick that I don't know about? Advice would be awesome at this point (after installing heads 7 individual times and doing the dot to dot twice today .... I think I'm losing my mind

Thanks guys.

 

subscribing. doing my first head/cam soon, glad you're helping pave the way i'll take pics and annotate mine as best as i can as well. thanks for all the work!

 

I wouldn't think that with a lift of .601 and those heads you would have PTV issues, but if that's what it is there isnt anything you can do but flycut the pistons. (Or get a smaller cam). How did you measure the pushrods and come up with 7.4? Can you turn the crank a full rotation before you install the pushrods?

http://ls1tech.com/forums/generation...ing-tools.html

 

Are your new lifters pumpd up? Or can you move the plunger up and down?
If you can't move it, it could be opening the valves even if they are on the base circle. Then you add lift on top of the already open valve and you get interference.
I think I read on the LS1 site that this can be an issue with new lifters due to some sort of goo in them when new.

However, this would also mean your pushrods are too long.

Are you watching the valves as you roll the engine over? Usually the intake valve has the clearance issues.

Ron

 

Thanks for all the advice guys!

But listen.... I just had an extremely rare opportunity that most of you may never experience. I looked at myself in the mirror and said YOU are a GENIUS! and do you guys know why? Well, let me tell you what I discovered....


You can avoid PTV if you install the rocker pedestal under the rocker arms...

Ok, honestly I looked at myself and said.. "You dumba$$! What the hell were you thinking not installing the rocker pedestal..." something along those lines
Anyway, once I put that on - everything went very well. I was able to turn the motor over by hand very nicely about 4 times fully with both heads and the entire valvetrain installed. Terrific .

I know degreeing is best but I'll see how I fair with the dot to dot method for now- Thanks a lot jackson; definitely good advice. Also, I was looking ALL over for my PR length checker (comp cams) and I can't find it anywhere so I went ahead and used the dry erase marker check to see the tread area. I just bought a new checker before I posted this and I plan on measuring once it comes in just to be sure I'm using the perfect length + preload plus that's not too difficult of a job anyway - takes minutes. Thanks man!

Now - I did take a lot of pictures once again but I'm afraid that I'm not yet finished for the night. I want to get the new intake manifold, throttle body, new fuel injectors in the rail, and pretty much the motor buttoned up completely so all that is left tomorrow is putting the steering rack back in. I just got my mail order tune from Steve (TunedByFrost down in Richmond,VA) - I plan on going to him for the full dyno tune. So tomorrow I'll be starting her up and I'll even get a video of the initial start so you guys can hear what she sounds like . (I just pray that damn o-ring is seated nicely )

Wish me luck guys! I think I'm actually reaching the end of the install soon !

 

I'm laughing my *** off because I thought about asking that!

Course I'm watching Bad Santa so I was already laughing my *** off!

Ron

 

Good for you, I am jealous. So what do you think the final #'s will be on HP. I'm gonna follow this till the finish. Do us a favor and video the start up and a solid run. Good luck.

 

don't sweat the O-ring to much man. i think with every cam install I've ever been a part of the oil pump and seal is always a concern...just the way it is! haha

everything is coming along nicely! thanks for the write up and can't wait to hear/see it!

 

 

Thanks man! I do it for my Vette brothers/sisters .

Best of luck man! It's definitely a fun job that gets you involved with the car .

Thanks man! I'm not to sure on the numbers. I would estimate possibly 440 - 460 but I can say for certain. I will say that my goal isn't to hit HUGE numbers, I really just want the car to feel very solid overall and really turn it into a "drivers" car. That's why I chose the cam I went with -I don't think I've seen many guys on here run it so it should be interesting . And don't worry man I'll be posting a video for sure


Thanks man! Can't help but worry but like you said that's the norm. Can't wait to get her running

 

I love seeing build threads like this. I will be tearing down my 98 next weekend to start my cam swap. My box of parts is getting bigger and bigger by the day and seeing your really gets me excited to start mine lol best of luck to you on #s hopefully they will be big!

 

I started mine a week ago but so far have only got the exh off and the intake off. Man, I work slow.
You must have air tools?
It's been in the 30's in my garage which dissuades me from spending much time out there. Time to get a heater. I'm also fighting the FAST 102 fitment which is slowing me down.
Which balancer are you guys using? I love the ATI stuff, but the cost is prohibitive.

Ron

 

if you dont have central heat/air run into your garage, you've gotta get one of those propane based little jet-engine looking heaters. takes my garage from 30 to working in a t-shirt in 5 minutes.

 

I have a 1 car garage. It just isn't large enough for one of those I'm afraid. But I'll go look and see how big one really is. Going to look at 220v electric as well. I'll just never get this done this winter if I don't get heat in there.
I also have trans, converter, and diff to do as well.

 

Good luck. I have a feeling you will need all you can get.

 

good write up

 

Looks like you are doing a fine job to me. I would agree, however, with always checking PTV clearance. I did mine to be sure, even though I was 99% positive there would be no problems. Still made me feel better.