Cam swap
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,293
Likes: 36
Its true....lol
I did my cam swap myself. There is no need to remove the intake to do this because GM placed access to the lifters . . .in the cylinder heads. In other words, you cannot access the lifters from removing the intake like the old style small block chevy. You must remove the cylinder head to remove the lifters in this generation block! The lifters sit in plastic holder, and if you remove the pushrods and rotate the cam, the lifter will actually get slightly wedged into the plastic lifter tray and not fall back down onto the cam or into the block. There are also two access holes on the front of the block where you can stick two long round dowels to absolutely prevent the lifters from falling down. I prefer using the dowel method as I cannot be sure that plastic lifter trays are in good shape. There are plenty of photos on the internet where you can see this design.
Racer
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 493
Likes: 24
From: Peoria IL
I did my cam swap myself. There is no need to remove the intake to do this because GM placed access to the lifters . . .in the cylinder heads. In other words, you cannot access the lifters from removing the intake like the old style small block chevy. You must remove the cylinder head to remove the lifters in this generation block! The lifters sit in plastic holder, and if you remove the pushrods and rotate the cam, the lifter will actually get slightly wedged into the plastic lifter tray and not fall back down onto the cam or into the block. There are also two access holes on the front of the block where you can stick two long round dowels to absolutely prevent the lifters from falling down. I prefer using the dowel method as I cannot be sure that plastic lifter trays are in good shape. There are plenty of photos on the internet where you can see this design.
Race Director
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 16,667
Likes: 1,209
From: Raleigh, NC
St. Jude Donor '15
Just make sure you're using the right size dowel. It's not like you're sticking something under the lifters.. it's just hanging on to the smaller diameter portion of the lifter near the middle. If what you're using isn't big enough to hold on to that then putting a rod to hold the lifters isn't doing anything. Spin the cam around a few times, use push rods to push on the lifters to make sure they aren't falling back down. If all of them have a bit of resistance holding them up, pull the cam out.
I went with the pull and pray method on mine. Worked out, so I guess that means it'll work for everyone since you read it on the internet
I went with the pull and pray method on mine. Worked out, so I guess that means it'll work for everyone since you read it on the internet
Last edited by schpenxel; May 24, 2016 at 09:33 PM.
