Black91Z28

How hard is it to put a cam in a 1991 z28? Would i have to lift the engine out or can i just do it and keep the engine in the car..I really dont want to pay the enormous amount that shops want to charge to put in a cam, and was just wondering what all it involves (my brother has put in 3 cams in a nova, chevelle, and an el camion) so he can help. Just wondering!

Thanks

bigmike92z

i havent done mine yet but i've been loking for some pointers. basically what i've gathered is you can do it with the engine in the car but you have to remove the accessories (duh), a/c consensor and radiator.

Sitting Bull

It will take a weekend to do right. If you plan on changing heads at any time, do it with the cam and save a hoard of time and effort.

Black91Z28

thnx....but what im looking for is how you do it?? can you fit it in by taking off the radiator and all that? or do you have to pull the motor?

StealthElephant

I don't know how different an 87' Iroc is from a 91' but it took like 20 hours and it was a complete pain in the ***. It took about 4 hours to pull an LT1 out of a 62' vette tonight(the COMPLETE motor mind you), it took the same two people (myself and my buddy rob) 12 hours to GET to the cam, NOTHING worked in our favor. The TPI is a pain in the ***, like 8 bolts to hold on a single runner, instead of 4, they put them in front and behind, pointless (needless to say not ever bolt was put back in). The TPI is also so lame to take off, the LT1 intake is so much easier to work with. If the cars are at all similar, you will find the work not very hard, but tedious and you'll find yourself bitching at GM for not designing the car better. Just NOTHING was built in my 87' with taking it apart in mind, they designed it so it could be built, but never thought about someone working on it. Even when we got to the cam, as we pulled it out two metal supports that formed an X for support blocked the cam from coming out (you have to pull it out straight, and the metal bars were blocking it, only 1" of cam left to come out and we hit the bar) so there I am, unbolting the bars, lying under the car pulling down on it with all my weight so we can clear the cam and pull it out. The cam switch itself is straightforward and if you speced it right that should be happy.

Putting it together is ALOT easier then taking it apart, takes less then half the time, I did it in like 4 hours and we rushed, ended up with a vacuum leak in the intake plenum, (thats our fault tho) Look for about 3 days of work, maybe 20-25 hours depending on the tools you have (we couldn't get to a bolt behind the distributor, so my buddy grabs a wrench, grabs steel rod, cuts the wrench head off, and welds it to the rod so he could get to the bolt, it was SUCH a pain to get some of the bolts out, i was lucky because my buddy has a full 2 car garage an has building engines for like 15 years, i can't imagine if it was just me trying to do that without all his tools, he had a 2hp compressor and air gun, so depending on your tools it could longer or shorter)and how fast you work. Its by no means difficult, it's just GM did nothing to make it practical to work on.

You dont' need to pull the engine, but EVERYTHING comes off, every vacuum line, all AC and associated, basically by the time your done clearing all the **** out of the way, and your about to start taking the intake apart, you could have pulled the engine out, and take it apart on an engine stand (which would probably be easier because **** isn't in the way) honestly, by the time we got the TPI off, we were like "wtf, we might as well have pulled the engine at this point" cause honestly even after you take out all the OUTSIDE stuff (not even touching the motor yet mind you) there is stuff everywhere in the way as your trying to get the intake apart. my 87 had a gas line running in front of the timing chain cover, my buddy is like "**** man, im gonna drop the oil pan" cause we could NOT get the cover off, i was like "let me try" and i jsut RIPPED the cover off ignoring the line. just nothing was designed well on my 87....good luck with your 91, just be patient, don't rush, and hope the 91 was built better

Black91Z28

thanks alot man, u've been a big help...i'll just plan it out (im not going to do this swap until june anyway) to see what tools i need. At the same time im doing the cam, im going to swap heads and put on an LT1 intake....im just gonna do it all at once to save myself alot of time and sweat in the long run

TheGreatJ

First time I ever changed a cam it took 5 hours with the help of one fairly experienced mechanic. However, this was on my CARBED 305 before I blew it up. You can pull the motor or not pull it, if you leave it in then you have to bleed all the freon out of your A/C so you can take the condensor out and it's expensive to have it put back in. Heres the basic process, assuming you leave the motor in:

Pull the radiator and A/C condensor.....pull all the engine accessories (alt, W pump, A/C comp, smog pump if you still have it all come out completely...P/S pump you'll just want to move to the side).....tear down the TPI and pull the distributor and intake manifold.....pull the valve covers, loosen the rockers, and pull the pushrods and lifters.....drop the front of the oilpan 1/2" so the timing cover will come out.....pull the crank pulley and balancer.....pull the timing cover and bottom timing gear.....CAREFULLY slide the old cam out (you'll have to have someone lay under the car and pull down the crossbraces).....prelube the new cam and EVEN MORE CAREFULLY slide it in.....install new timing set and set cam timing.....install lifters and pushrods and lightly tighten rockers.....install timing cover and retighten oilpan.....install balancer and crank pulley.....install engine accessories, A/C condensor, and radiator.....install manifold and distributor (as close to TDC as you can get it).....reassemble the TPI.....crank it up and adjust lifters and timing.....install valve covers.....have a beer.....fall over from exhaustion.

It's exactly the same if you rent a cherry picker and pull the motor except the radiator can stay in and most of it's easier to get to and you can keep your freon. Sorry it was so long.

Sitting Bull

Actually, you don't have to bleed the freon from the AC. The compressor and AC radiator in front of the rad can all be set to one side once unbolted.

I EAT T/A

To answer your main question, NO its not hard, just time consuming.

TheGreatJ

When I did mine I could've set the compressor aside easily enough but there wasn't any way to move the condensor far enough to get it out of the way without unhooking the lines. I was pissed when I realized I had to bleed my freon and believe me I tried to get around it. Unless you have some magic way of sliding the condensor through the brace in front of it, I don't see how it could be moved enough.

Sitting Bull

Well, we just unbolted the rad and then the condensor and moved it over to the passenger side. It worked for us.

Chuck!

Heres what I did to not have to let the freon go:
ac hold up

Just be real sure you dont mess anything up when you pull out the cam and make sure the engine is at tdc firing on #1 when you set the distributor. The great J is very right when he says you'll need a beer after its all said and done, lol

Black91Z28

Haha yes, i remember TDC on the #1 cylinder when helping my dad put a cam in his 71 chevelle ss.....and i'll make sure i have a 12 pack on hand after this swap (besides cam im also doing heads and an LT1 intake, among other things). This will be a big week or 2 install/rebuild if u wanna call it that.

crakpotjoe

how do u bleed the freeon? i helped my friend remove his whole setup in his 98 mustang and we just let it explode for lack of a better word because we couldnt think of anything and didnt want to wait to ask.