Finally got my cam in the other day, and just got it running this afternoon. Everything was a piece of cake till the springs part... I did it with the tool from auto-zone and i ended up losing a retainer for 2 hours till my girlfriends mom found it 30 feet away by a tree...

Didn't have to drop the oil pan, but I did drop the bolt in there lol
My car did have 99k miles, and i went ahead and replaced the drive belts and cam sensor.




And it begins














Having a makita 12v and a m18 milwaukee sure made quick work of most bolts.














My highpressure hoses were leaking, So i went ahead and replaced those.








10mm Flex ratchet is a savior for a few bolts





99k miles and this is what I found.











Cant go wrong with the Trunion upgrade.





I went ahead and let the rockers sit in the safety kleen tub.








Having a vise and two sockets made quick work for the upgrade, and did take about 45 minutes to change,





This snap ring plier made it easy to put the rings on.








If you look closely you can see the bolt i dropped lol.





Got this kit from auto zone, and the bottom left piece will NOT fit. I had to grind more than half for it to go in deep enough. After that it was smooth sailing for the HB.





After using the 20$ spring compressor from autozone, i finally got the springs on. I wouldnt use it, it WILL test every ounce of your patience.













It was a very fun experience and will be doing it again for a few friends of mine. Just take your time and don't rush anything!! I did this by myself in a driveway, and yes I do have two shops i could of used but they were full.

I will post dyno numbers later this week when I get it tuned!

 

Congrats on the install. She sure idles good for a cam with no tune. Mine took a good while to re learn before I could walk out and take a vid prior to the tune. What LSA did you go with? Jay

 

Thank you. i went with a 115 +3. And it did die a few times after i let it run for 20 minutes. But did fine after that.

 

David over at vengeance racing was a huge help! And i couldn't of picked the right cam without him!

 

Good work and great post ! Thanks for the pics and enjoy your new lope

 

You're welcome! It sure does turn heads! Can't wait to get it Dyno tuned.

 

Sounds sweet! Can't wait to see your results after tune.

 

Thanks! Trying to locate a place in dallas, maybe 21 Century muscle cars, but everyone has the same hours as me when I work. May have to take a morning off and drop it off. I have a guy in town that does corvettes, but hes real busy all the time.

 

Great write-up! I'm hoping to do my install real soon.

 

Make sure you get a good spring compressor, unlike the one I used

Awesome, Can't wait to see it!

 

Too late! I got the cheap one from flee-bay.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one-time use tools.

I'm curious though. Why did you strip down the entire front of the car? It appears to be a lot of added work to the swap but I'm sure it made access a breeze.

 

It actually took me about 15 minutes to pull the front off. I have 99k miles and wanted to replace anything that I had access too. It also helped with the radiator and condenser. If you have high mileage, Id recommend replacing the Camshaft sensor and anything else down there that wears out over time. I got through 10 springs before the tool started striping, and one did slip and shot a retainer 30 feet, and by the grace of God, my girlfriends mom found it. I had to use a 3 foot long plier and a 3/8 extension to even compress the stupid thing. I wouldn't wish that experience on a death row inmate.

 

Great write up on the install! Can't wait to see the tuned dyno results! We look forward to working with you again soon

 

Great write up and photos. Good job on the install. I had to laugh at your experience with the cheap spring compressor. Been there, done that and have a wide selection of spring tools and still trying to find one that works! Car sounds nice too.
If you don't mind posting them, what are the specs on your cam? I gather that it's a 227/235 duration with 115 LSA ground 3 degrees advanced, but what are the lift numbers, lobe profile, and whose grind is it? Is it one of Vengeance's off the shelf grinds or custom? Did you check piston to valve clearance? If so, what is the P/V clearance? If not, do you know what it's supposed to be?
One other thing, I note from the photo of the installed springs that the retainer looks slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the spring. Did the retainers come as a package with the springs? If not, did you check to see that the inner step on them fits exactly inside the springs? If not, I would worry about the springs ability to move around under the retainer. If they're part of a matching set that came from Vengeance or another reputable vendor, then you should be okay. Maybe just double check with them before you run it hard or for too long.
Sorry about all the questions but I'm looking for the right cam for my car as well and your cam sounds like it just about fits the bill.
Good luck with getting it tuned and let us know it dynos and runs.

 

Thanks! thank you for awesome service! and I have an appointment planned this Friday for a tune.

 

Cam specs are 227/235 .614/.621 115 +3 lsa Its a custom cut. I believe the P/V was about 0.100 inch clearance on the intake and 0.120 inch on the exhaust. Do you have the Pushrod length checker? I think if you went any larger on the cam, you couldn't use it with stock heads. If you did a larger cam with ported heads and all that, you'd probably need about 7.425'' rods. The factory would like you to stay within 0.100 intake and 0.120 exhaust. That's the safe zone for stock heads I believe. The retainers came in the Compcam spring kit, and they fit perfectly within the dual springs. So far I've had no problems with them, besides sounding like a sewing machine lol. And it's all good!!

 

Thanks man. That cam sounds just about perfect for an all around DD N/A setup and I think it would also run well with a blower if you decided to go that route in the future.
It sounds good too, nice lope without surging. I'm curious to see how it runs when you get it tuned.
That P/V clearance is plenty safe and I'm glad that you checked the retainers on the springs. I will definitely check pushrods length when I do a cam install.
I also like that Vengeance offers mail order tunes as well as I would need that with any cam change (I'm overseas) and I think it's always good to find an outfit that offers tunes as well as cam kits since they will no doubt have a tune that works. Vengeance also has a very good reputation which is important when you're shipping parts overseas like I do.
Again good job with the install and write up and I look forward to you posting back on here with some numbers once you've tuned it.

 

I made sure the cam would be blower friendly, and David helped me out with that option. I do plan on adding a procharger, or TVS heartbeat in February. VR did a 11/10 job on service and Im very pleased with them. Just need to find some VR stickers to represent on my car! I apologize, I really didn't finish the rest of the write up and could of done a better job with details. I was in a huge hurry to finish it up and stopped taking pictures lol.

Thank you sir I have a 9 a.m appointment tomorrow 60 miles south of me at 21st century muscle cars, so results will be in tomorrow, if all goes well.

 

What headers and exhaust are you running?

I have the ZO6 air bridge with a ZR1 filter and a complete Z exhaust with dual modes for my install. I may get headers!

 

Kooks 1 7/8th Lt's with 3'' matching catless xpipe and Borla Atak catback. Airraid intake. It's insanely loud when you get above 2.5k rpms. I had my friend rev it and he only went to 5k rpms and my ears were ringing.