Cam swap/ water pump replacement

[mattgw86]

Well I started today on my cam swap. Got the radiator and condenser out, water pump removed, crank hub and opti pulled. I managed to completely destroy one of the three opti mounting bolts and I broke the plug on the opti. Anyone got an extra bolt or harness? Can I replace the harness with everything assembled?

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Also, I noticed some serious corrosion on the connection from the coil to the opti. I'm surprised the car even ran, much less ran as well as it did. See...

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I've got a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow, then off comes the intake and valve covers and out comes the old cam and in goes the hot cam.

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[Injuneer]

EFIConnection sells replacement Opti harnesses. Should be able to replace it with the Opti installed.

[sleepy_z]

Google optispark harness and you'll see different places to buy them. Swapping it is really easy.

[mattgw86]

Thanks guys, I found that opti harnesses can be purchased just about anywhere, and the bolt is pretty much an off the shelf part.

Unfortunately, I believe I've run into more trouble...

I just got finished pulling the old valvetrain and cam. I'm not sure what to look for, but to me, the cam looks terrible.

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Also the bearing surface on the front cam bearing looks pretty bad.

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How bad is this? Is it even worth putting this engine back together? I'm planning on eventually putting together a fresh heads/cam engine for it, but not for a few years.



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[zoomo]

I dont really see anything wrong with the cam.
The bearing surface showing some bronze color like that is kind of concerning.

How does everything feel? thats the best way to tell if its damaged.
feel the bears and the cam surfaces for anything rough. the lobes and bearings should be smooth. if anything is questionable, run your finger nail across it and see if you can feel it.

[popo8]

Gail American-Powerhouse sells harnesses.

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[popo8]

What kind of oil pressure were u seeing?

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[mattgw86]

The bearing surface had a slight roughness to it, but the cam felt smooth. Couldn't feel anything with my fingernails. Oil pressure seems fine to me. Between 1/2 and 3/4 on the gauge at startup, and about 1/4 at hot idle and roughly 1/2 at cruise.

I went ahead and put the cam in, should have the engine sealed back up by tonight. Then I'll have to flush and refill the cooling system and the ac. hoping to have it back on the road by next weekend.

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[Badazz 97 TA]

My cam bearing had a similar look when I did my first cam swap. It looked like that with 50,000 miles and looked about the same when I did another cam at 106,000 miles.

The cam driven water pump puts more stress on that front bearing.

[mattgw86]

Well that makes me feel a little better. I've got a good bit of the engine back together. I ran out of daylight with four valve springs left to swap. I got the whole front of the engine together less the water pump.

Hopefully gonna be able to finish the car and have it driving by next weekend.

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[gmpowered]

Well that makes me feel a little better. I've got a good bit of the engine back together. I ran out of daylight with four valve springs left to swap. I got the whole front of the engine together less the water pump.

Hopefully gonna be able to finish the car and have it driving by next weekend.

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Good work, I like cranking stuff out as well can't stand parts laying around.

As long as you were clean, I think the work will be fine. Like stated the extra cam bearing wear is "normal". The bearing doesn't look fubared.

[myltwon]

Cam looks fine to me. Make sure you fire up the engine first before you put everything back on.

[mattgw86]

Progress... The car should be running tomorrow.

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[Dan]

Have a video for us. :)

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[mattgw86]

There will be video.

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[mattgw86]

Here's a video. I'm still waiting on a tune. It seems like the idle is just too low. Once my computer charges, I'm gonna go play with the idle speed a bit.

It's amazing how quiet the valvetrain is now. Up front all I can really hear are the pulleys and the intake.

Oh- excuse the mess. I'm overdue for some cleaning and a waste oil disposal trip...




https://vimeo.com/156773693

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[Dan]

I can't view the video? http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160226/9c7e3bff020f5ab9a2c27dd381617bf4.jpg

What size cam did you go with? Don't think you ever said.

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[mattgw86]

That's weird. Mine looks like that too. I'll upload it to my YouTube.

It's an "LT4 hotcam" that I picked up in the classifieds. It's a Willhoites regrind. I checked the lift on the cam and got right at .525 intake and exhaust with 1.6 rockers. Running ultra pro magnum SA rockers, hardened pushrods, and fresh new sealed power brand lifters. Set preload to 1/2 turn past zero lash.

I think the car is running really rich. It'll idle nicely when I set it to 800, then after a few minutes, it bogs a little, then revs. It'll oscillate for a while and almost die, then it'll return to a normal idle for a few minutes and start over again.

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[mattgw86]

Try this link:


https://youtu.be/wS3KrJAxHRc

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[Dan]

Yup that works. Sounds good man. MagnaFlow exhaust?

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[mattgw86]

Yep, LPP headers through a Magnaflow cat back.

[MoeHorsePower]

[QUOTE=mattgw86;458421]Here's a video. I'm still waiting on a tune. It seems like the idle is just too low. Once my computer charges, I'm gonna go play with the idle speed a bivt.


Trying to adjust the idle thru the throttle body screw is not the right way, its not like a carb, you will throw off your TPS voltage and if its an auto it will affect the shifting, also if it is running rich dont run it, you should of sent off the pcm for a tune before you cranked it up, running rich will add to ring wash and damage to the bearings,

[mattgw86]

Lol no, I changed the idle in the tune. Went from 650 to 800. It seems much better, but I'll put it back together and wait for my new tune. If it's actually running rich, it's no more than it was stock (by smell at least). I really think it's just the idle speed. I'm gonna double check my vacuum connections too.

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[mattgw86]

Thinking more about it now, it's probably running lean at idle. With the stock cam and the tune I was running, if the car idled for a few minutes while up to temp, I would get a right bank O2 lean condition. As soon as I started moving it would go away.

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