QUASARBLUEZ28

Since you blew a head gasket, then went for the upgrade to repair the gasket problem, there is a good chance that you had spun the bearing even before you started the repair. Coolant and oil will kill those bearings. Sorry for your bad luck, but it wasn't the hotcam and heads that caused the problem. Anytime you open the motor up, there is a potential for some sort of contamination to happen.

grygst76

When you are doing any work internally to the engine absolute care should be given so that things like that do not happen, have a junkload of rags to stuff into passages, keep your hands clean, keep parts clean; e.t.c and you will be aiiight.

texlurch

My personal OP is when someone has cam bearing problems after a swap.. I always wonder if they dragged the cam lobes and nicked a bearing. The older cams didn't have near the lobe that the LT1 has, and you have to be extra careful when installing and removing the cam.

And I always thought it was interesting that the LT1 gets singled out. The block design, dimensions and cam bearings are the same as the older SBC, but you never hear about "cam swap kills bearings" with the older motors.

Hardee46360

Maybe i was upset when I posted, but it was not due to dirt, I am an X-ray tech, I work in surgury every day, I know clean! Like I said before the coolant issue must have been the problem, not the instalation. Still think the headaches and time and money spent would still not equal up to if I would of just crapped the LT1 and went with a crate motor, thats proubly what I am going to do now, besides lets face it, the LT1 is a hoar to work on, and it was an experimental engine for chevy, if it was so great they would still be making it today. Its powerful when new, but seems to require alot of work to keep it that way.

SS MPSTR

It's really a traditional small block Chevrolet, albeit with reverse cooling and a different ignition. That's experimental?

grygst76

The only thing experimental was the optispark design and the reverse flow, but what do you know?? reverse flow cooling works so they are keeping that going, as far as the optispark goes

JamesNobles

The LT1 is a bitch to work on, but it is a reliable engine...mine has 128xxx miles on it and runs like a raped ape, and feels no different then when I bought it. If you beat the **** out of it, then expect the life expectancy to be shorter. You should have addressed the blown head gasket problem first. Upgrading probably just added the finishing touch to it. I guaruntee if the bearing wasnt on its way out already..... youre H/C combo wouldve still been running right now with no problem. I have seen countless people install the hotcam and heads with no problem...so please think before you post...You probably scared a bunch of newbies outta of that mod right there by posting a false statement...My apologies if you are offended by my statement..

MTL_Z28

I would just like to add that it`s true that we hear more about the bad than the good. I mean if someone runs into a problem after a head/cam swap probably the first thing they will do is come here to try to get help.

There are 3 people that I know that have swapped cam and heads on a LT1 f-body and not a single one had spun a bearing (one of them had an opti crap out because he forgot to trim the dowel pin on the cam). But you don`t hear about it because none of them really post here.

Ken95Z28

I'm on my third cam plus a head swap and still using the same cam bearing, I run every single week at bracket racing. When I did the head swap we had it on the dyno the next day doing the tuning of it. I only had 20 miles on the motor at the time when we done the tuning.

Just chalk it up to bad luck. Nothing more nothing less.

Good luck of getting it fixed.

Injuneer

The Opti was not "experimental"... the design was used on late 1980's Chrysler/Mitsubishi 3.0L V6's. Look at the tri-star Mitsu logo on the optical sensor module next time you take one apart. Chrysler/Mitsu just had the common sense to put their version in the "normal" location, instead of under the water pump.

As far as "keeping" reverse flow cooling, which engine do you have in mind? The LS1 family of engines reverted to "conventional" flow.

billy mensch

i put a hot cam in my 93 z28 no head work they stayed on the car and about 5 to 10 miles later i spun a rod bearing

FastZinTennessee

I installed a set of homeported heads and a HOTcam on my '95 Z/28 when it had around 125k miles on it. No bearing problems whatsoever. The motor is down again due to overheating problems because of the radiator getting clogged. It overheated and blew a headgasket. The bottom end was solid as a rock though.

My opinion is that people that spin bearings are a result of scraping gaskets and having debris drop down, and also crud from the block dropping into the oil pan. There's not a lot room to work in there and it's very easy to inadvertantly drop stuff into the oil pan.

Sorry about your luck, but now you have the opportunity to start from scratch!

bdc95ta

if your going to spend that much money on ported heads and a cam why don't you spend the extra 50 bucks (or whatever) on some new bearings?? Cheap insurance!
-b

Hardee46360

thanks guys for the reply, I must have bad luck, my playstation broke on me today too. Right before Madden 2005 comes out Oh well,back to the car, I am probably going to have to sit on the car until tax time rolls around. Until then, every ricer, Rustang owner has one less BOWTIE to worry about!

TCAL95Z

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention so far is did you check the condition of the bearings before you put the new cam in?

I did a cam swap on a LS1 with about 46k on it and the cam bearings were crap. The guy ended up needing a rebuild. I've done several cam jobs and I'd never had a cam come out of a engine so hard.

Good luck