97TransAm

I'm in the process of lining up all the "christmas boxes" for a July 15th cam swap on my otherwise stock LT1 block.

I already have the cam and rockers. The cam is a Crane/GM847.
The rockers are Crane Gold Race aluminum full roller rockers, 3/8 stud, self aligning, 1.6 ratio, narrow body for fitting under the stock valve covers along with the locks and nuts.

I am buying the K-motion K-800 springs and Comp Cams Hi-Energy hardened pushrods, 7.200 (OEM Roller - Factory Length).

What I have no clue on is what valve spring retainers, valve locks and shims that I would need with the stock valves.
Any help and part numbers on this would be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks...
ron

OrbitalChris

I went with the Crane P/N10308 spring and retainer kit, its 180.00 @ thunder racing(recommended) and there dual springs, its a great kit, and they work awesome, joe O if youve heard of him recommended them to me when doing my swap, and if you have self aligning rocker arms, you wont need hardened pushrods, if you havent bought them yet, id go with the crane spring set they include the locks and retainers

97TransAm

The only parts I have right now all purty like in the garage is the cam and the rockers. I'm just trying to get "everything else" that I need to make the operation go smoothly.

I checked thunderracing.com: Part number 40-10-308-1 Much thanks on that.

OrbitalChris

np let me know how it turns out! good luck~!!

SStrokerAce

Do not use those PR's!!!! You need a 4130 1 piece chromoloy pushrod to put up with those valvesprings.

Bret

97TransAm

Well there goes another $100.

97 6SPEED Z

I think Bret is recommending the 4130 chromemoly push rods for the K-Motion K-800 valve springs you mentioned in your first post.

If you go with the Crane 10308 valve spring kit you can use the hardened push rods you've already bought. Like OrbitalChris said, with self aligning rocker arms you don't need hardened push rods, but since you already have them, you can certainly use them with SA rockers.

Finally, you do know that when you drop that Crane/GM847 cam in your otherwise "stock" block LT1, that it's going to run pretty bad until you get the PCM re-programed......right?

97 6SPEED Z

Also, I don't know if you realize that you do also need a bunch of gaskets and seals, like intake manifold, water pump, timing cover, crank and opti and valve stem seals etc., etc., etc. And, if your car has anything over say around 35-40,000 miles on it, I'd certainly change the timing set while I'm in there. Maybe I'm just getting a bad "read" here but changing the cam in these motors is not a "little" task. Even swapping the valve spings with the heads still on the car can be difficult if you don't have a pretty good idea of whats required. Again, maybe its just me but you really do need to think this out if you want to get ALL the stuff on site you need to complete this task.

SStrokerAce

No the hardened stuff is basically worthless with about any valve spring. These are not 90lbs flat tappet springs we are running here and the lobe accelerations of most roller stuff kills those cheap things.

Bret

97 6SPEED Z

Just lucky on my part then. I've been running just the Comp Cam 1050 induction hardened push rods with my Comp XE 230/236 cam and Crane 10308 springs for over 3 years, (and 50-60 drag strip passes), now with absolutely NO problems. I guess you pay your money and you takes your chances???

SStrokerAce

I'd rather not though... especially if it's not mine!!!! Once you bend one all sorts of other fun things can go wrong, the work to fix or replace is not worth the $$$ you save.

Bret

seawolf06

If you use those K-800 springs, you're also going to need some heavy duty lifters like Morels to put up with the high seat pressure. You should go with either some 918 springs or the Crane kit that was recommended. After it's all said and done, I think I should have gotten the Crane kit if it will be good enough for whatever lift you have, which I don't think is that much. You should have gotten NSA RR though since you're going to have to rev that cam pretty high to see max power, if it's anything like the CC306. Let us know what you end up with.

97TransAm

Thanks all!!!

Let me clarify a couple of things, though.

The only parts I have is the cam and the rockers.

I haven't bought anything else until I got an idea of those that "been there, done that" of what else would be the correct parts to marry up with with the gm847 came and 1.6 SA rockers.

I'll go with chromemoly pushrods.

Yep, on the gasket kit. I have that item on my wish list from thunderracing at the moment. But good mention there.

Yep on replacing the timing chain set.

Yep on the tune. I plan to send in a mail tune to madz28 before the swap. I have dealt with Ion a couple of times before; gear change and header exhaust tune. I'll have to eat the "quick turn around" core charge. But it's a small price to pay to go upstate for the cam swap party / vacation for a few days.

Other things that I will be replacing; opti, water pump, upper and lower radiator hoses and putting a 160 thermostat.

There are a few guys helping me out with this cam swap. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't even be dreaming, let alone actually doing this. In fact, part of the joke is that this Trans Am is becoming Projectz28's other project car. Pamperedz was the lead on getting the headers in and will be helping me again.

Again much thanks to all... and if there is anything else... don't hesitate to let me know.
ron

seawolf06

timing chain I'm using

OrbitalChris

hey man, dont waste youre money on that whole timing chain setup, just get the LT4 chain and youll have plenty of dependability, also since you have S/A rockers there is really no need at all no waste more money on pushrods, I know a couple people who have SA rockers with no stock pushrods and have run mid 11s and lower for a couple years, and have no problems, the gasket kit you should definitely get, and some fluids and youll be set to go buddy!!
and use that saved money to take youre car out to FRIDAYs or something as a present lol
let me know how it turns out,
Chris