Cam swaps

[74 Shortbed]

Well if you got it out.........big block it as if you all didn’t know it was coming lol

LOL...

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I swapped a cam and lifters in my 78 K15 at a little truckstop in Wills Point Texas, in about 4 hours and didn't take anything off but the radiator.

I used only hand tools and had to walk to the parts store like 2 miles away lol.

Forums love to get carried away, pull the radiator and have at it.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I swapped a cam and lifters in my 78 K15 at a little truckstop in Wills Point Texas, in about 4 hours and didn't take anything off but the radiator.

I used only hand tools and had to walk to the parts store like 2 miles away lol.

Forums love to get carried away, pull the radiator and have at it.

Do tell how you replaced the lifters without removing the intake. My brain cannot picture how it is possible. It sounds like your situation was out of desperation, whereas, having the vehicle at home affords the ability to take your time and do the extra work to make it a more complete undertaking.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Do tell how you replaced the lifters without removing the intake. My brain cannot picture how it is possible. It sounds like your situation was out of desperation, whereas, having the vehicle at home affords the ability to take your time and do the extra work to make it a more complete undertaking.

I pulled the carb, intake, distributor, waterpump, alternator.. If you want a write up.

What I didn't do was pull the engine or front clip. And it took me 4 hours, including the walk to and from the parts store.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I pulled the carb, intake, distributor, waterpump, alternator.. If you want a write up.

What I didn't do was pull the engine or front clip. And it took me 4 hours, including the walk to and from the parts store.

You said only the radiator came out, so I was waiting for a really cool story of how you pulled it off. But you did it via option one by removing everything that needs to come off but leaving the engine in the truck...lol... No write up needed...

I'm still on board with the option two method of removing the engine.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

You said only the radiator came out, so I was waiting for a really cool story of how you pulled it off. But you did it via option one by removing everything that needs to come off but leaving the engine in the truck...lol... No write up needed...

I'm still on board with the option two method of removing the engine.

They do legitimately make a tool thats essentially a threaded rod with a magnet on the end, you drop it through the pushrod hole and hold the lifter up, but I don't trust that.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I wouldn't trust it either. If something drops down you have a whole lot more work that could've been easily avoided by not cutting corners.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I wouldn't trust it either. If something drops down you have a whole lot more work that could've been easily avoided by not cutting corners.

I kinda wonder if you couldn't just leave a lifter laying in the oil pan though lol.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I won't be testing that theory. I delegate it to someone else

 

[bucket]

I swapped a cam and lifters in my 78 K15 at a little truckstop in Wills Point Texas, in about 4 hours and didn't take anything off but the radiator.

I used only hand tools and had to walk to the parts store like 2 miles away lol.

Forums love to get carried away, pull the radiator and have at it.

Forums have nothing to do with it. Last time I swapped a cam in the truck, my back hated life and staying off the internet wouldn't have made it feel any better, lol.

You say you swapped the cam at a truck stop. I'm assuming you flattened a lobe? Did you not drop the oil pan and clean all the grit out of it?

I'm not saying it's faster to pull the engine. Far from it. It's just so much easier to get the job done and done correctly without frustration.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Forums have nothing to do with it. Last time I swapped a cam in the truck, my back hated life and staying off the internet wouldn't have made it feel any better, lol.

You say you swapped the cam at a truck stop. I'm assuming you flattened a lobe? Did you not drop the oil pan and clean all the grit out of it?

I'm not saying it's faster to pull the engine. Far from it. It's just so much easier to get the job done and done correctly without frustration.

I get that it's easier, but it's hardly completely necessary, it's just nice. All engine work is easy when it's sitting on the ground lol.

I lost three lobes lol. That was a good day. I did not drop the pan, I just ran some dollar store oil through it twice and continued on back to Ohio.

 

[QBuff02]

I over revved a 355 once, bent a couple push rods and scarfed the plunger on a lifter, used a skinny magnet through the push rod hole, and another through the distributor hole on intake to extract both the little piece of push rod in the lifter valley and the damaged lifter, and then reversed the process to put a new lifter in.. wasn't the best of methods or ideas, but at 17 years old I justified it and that engine still ran quite well after it was put back together and long after I sold the vehicle. desperate times (and teenage pocket books Lol) call for desperate measures sometimes..

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I over revved a 355 once, bent a couple push rods and scarfed the plunger on a lifter, used a skinny magnet through the push rod hole, and another through the distributor hole on intake to extract both the little piece of push rod in the lifter valley and the damaged lifter, and then reversed the process to put a new lifter in.. wasn't the best of methods or ideas, but at 17 years old I justified it and that engine still ran quite well after it was put back together and long after I sold the vehicle. desperate times (and teenage pocket books Lol) call for desperate measures sometimes..

Exactly like what l, I've been there multiple times.

 

[Mr Clean]

That's what I love about this site. Ask a simple question, and get the answer and than some. Me I wanted to do a simple tune up, ended up building a shop, than doing a total frame off restore on not one but two trucks. LOL. Your cam swap is going to cost you 35 grand by the time your done.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[74propu]

That's what I love about this site. Ask a simple question, and get the answer and than some. Me I wanted to do a simple tune up, ended up building a shop, than doing a total frame off restore on not one but two trucks. LOL. Your cam swap is going to cost you 35 grand by the time your done.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

$35 grand is the tune up price . Cam swap has to be a lot higher lol.