Installing New Cam in a 400

[Als73charger]

  Dumb question, but can this be done without removing the engine? I will be changing out the heads soon(516's) and I am thinking I might want to install a cam with a little more lift from the stock one. Any suggestions?
Al

[Ghoste]

It can be done although you may find the radiator and the grille are in the way. 

[bordin34]

Here are some helpful guidelines, as posted by RD
First of all, you will need -

- oil change (go with royal purple, or racing oil, 5-6 quarts)
- timing cover gasket set
- camshaft lube (should come with cam kit)
- coolant (2 gallons)
- silicone
- permatex gasket maker
- a double roller timing chain set (summit sells them on their brand $50.00 i think)

Now what you will need to do... in order:

1. run your car to operating temperature, shut off and remove all the oil (like you are changing it) to include the filter [hint: when putting on the new filter, put oil inside it, will hold about a quart, so that your engine has oil to scavenge from on the start up]

2. bring your engine to TDC on the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder (AND LEAVE IT THERE)

3. remove coolant from radiator

4. remove fan shroud and fan, belts, and w/p pulley

5. remove radiator

6. disconnect battery

7. remove alternator and power steering pump (take a picture at this moment so you do not forget how things go back together!!!)

8. remove water pump housing

9. remove harmonic balancer using removing tool (you can rent these from autoparts stores)

10. remove timing chain cover (dont forget the two bolts on the oil pan that screw into the bottom of the timing chain cover)

11. clean all mating services (this point, your front oil pan gasket will need to be cut away and replaced, the timing cover gasket set will have a cork replacement, you will need to cut it so that it fits fine)

12.  replace the front main seal in your timing cover

13. remove your timing chain (5/8" bolt), but before you do make sure the two "dots" line up with one another

14. put on new chain, making doubly sure the two dots line up PERFECT (bring in cam bolt to hold the larger sprocket in place... gently tighten cam bolt so that larger sprocket will slide onto the camshaft easily), then tighten to 45 lbs

15. put in lower oil pan gasket (the one you cut to fit), and the timing cover gasket by applying silicone to both sides [make sure you have put some grease on the front main seal to ensure no splitting of the seal upon startup], apply silicone generously wherever there are two separate gaskets meeting one another and then reinstall timing cover

16. install w/p housing with gaskets and silicone

17. then everything else in reverse order

NOW...

if you are wanting to put in a camshaft:

to remove a cam you can do it two ways, keep the intake on or remove the intake... i recommend removing the intake since it will be your first one.

to remove your old cam (assuming we are at the stage where you just removed your timing chain)...

1. remove your distributor

2. remove your distributor gear (using a big flat tip screwdriver, insert tip into slot and turn counter clockwise)

3. remove valve covers, rocker arm assemblies, and pushrods (good time to visually inspect your pushrods, or just buy new ones)

4. remove your intake (take a pic to see how your linkage is set up to include kickdown) and valley pan tray (six bolts, 3 in front and rear on the hold downs)  [now is the best time to clean all mating surfaces between the intake, heads and block]

5. remove all lifters

6. remove your fuel pump, the fuel pump rod will hold your cam in its place

7. remove your cam shaft by put in a 8-10" bolt can be 1/2" or 9/16" bolt and SLOWLY GUIDE OUT YOUR CAMSHAFT MAKE DAMN SURE YOU DO NOT SCUFF UP YOUR CAM BEARINGS WITH THE LOBES OF THE OLD CAM!!!   nice, slow, and sure is the name of the game

8. lube the crapola out of your cam on every single lobe and journal (to include your cam gear that meshes with the distributor gear)

9. SLOWLY PUT IT BACK IN USING THE SAME TECHNIQUE

10. get a clean container (i use a oil bottle cut in half) that has oil in it. put your lifters in one at a time and with the usage of a pushrod, pump them up with oil

11. install each lifter in each lifter bore, after each one is in, apply cam lube to where the pushrod will meet the lifter

12. reinstall pushrods and rocker arm assemblies making sure that the pushrods WILL NOT touch the heads at all (if they touch the heads, the rocker arms are not in the correct order, yes there is an order) torque down to specs (cant remember right now)
-------------------------------------
go to timing chain installation at this time
-------------------------------------
13. apply silicone at the corners where the heads and the block meet, and along the block where the valley pan hold downs are bolted in

14. use permatex gasket maker around each intake runner port (more or less wherever the valley pan will touch the heads)

15. put on valley pan tray, hold downs, and bolt down front and rear

16. apply permatex gasket make around valley pan tray that will touch wherever the intake manifold and it meet

17. bolt down the intake manifold (dont forget the last two bolts on the drivers side can only go on after you have the throttle linkage in place, those bolts hold it down)

18. replace distributor gear, applying cam lube directly onto gear (there is a slot in the distributor gear that you used to remove it, that slot needs to be parallel with the position of the camshaft in order for the distributor rotor to line up properly)

AND THE REST IS SIMPLE BUTTONING IT UP...

HOPE THIS MINI-THESIS HELPS YOU.

[c00nhunterjoe]

i would not run royal purple or any other full sythetic. i will not go into the "OIL DEBATE" call a major cam manufacture and ask them what oil to run. I can tell you that isky and comp WILL NOT warrant a cam run on any synthetic oil and isky has 3 choices for oil. bradd penn is number one followed by valvoline's race oil(not vr-1) and i think the 3rd was pennzoil, cant recall for sure its been a while since i spoke with them.

[RD]

i would not run royal purple or any other full sythetic. i will not go into the "OIL DEBATE" call a major cam manufacture and ask them what oil to run. I can tell you that isky and comp WILL NOT warrant a cam run on any synthetic oil and isky has 3 choices for oil. bradd penn is number one followed by valvoline's race oil(not vr-1) and i think the 3rd was pennzoil, cant recall for sure its been a while since i spoke with them.

well you could run other oils except those as stated, just make sure you have a ZDDP additive included in the oil that does not have the additive (especially if you have a flat tappet cam).  

Whether the cam manufacturer insures it or not.. I would never do a cam break-in on today's conventional oil WITHOUT a ZDDP oil additive... you are just toying with a wiped lobe if you ask me.  Royal Purple maybe a synthetic, but it has the additive in its oil to assist with the refurbishing of metals lost due to metal transfer, whereas regular valvoline (non VR-1) and pennzoil does not.

[harlandodge]

a guy here at the machine shop tells me to break in a cam using cheveron oil with a C rating for a few hundred miles , don't know how true this is but i have had no trouble  with it ,,then i go to the oil i have used for the last 25 years in all my cars or trucks,,, valvoline 10w-40 ,,,but thats just what i like to do

[Als73charger]

  A lot of good info here, so far. I trying to figure out what size of cam I would want to install. I do not want to go crazy, but would like something to happen, if I decide to have some fun. Al

[bordin34]

What has been done to the engine, what stall is the converter, and what gears are in the rear?

[Als73charger]

  Well, right now the engine is stock. I am go to get the 516's checked out, before I put them in. To be honest, I do not know anything about stall converter. I do not know what the rear end gears are, but they are stock. Al

[c00nhunterjoe]

i would not run royal purple or any other full sythetic. i will not go into the "OIL DEBATE" call a major cam manufacture and ask them what oil to run. I can tell you that isky and comp WILL NOT warrant a cam run on any synthetic oil and isky has 3 choices for oil. bradd penn is number one followed by valvoline's race oil(not vr-1) and i think the 3rd was pennzoil, cant recall for sure its been a while since i spoke with them.

well you could run other oils except those as stated, just make sure you have a ZDDP additive included in the oil that does not have the additive (especially if you have a flat tappet cam).  

Whether the cam manufacturer insures it or not.. I would never do a cam break-in on today's conventional oil WITHOUT a ZDDP oil additive... you are just toying with a wiped lobe if you ask me.  Royal Purple maybe a synthetic, but it has the additive in its oil to assist with the refurbishing of metals lost due to metal transfer, whereas regular valvoline (non VR-1) and pennzoil does not.

defintaly didnt mean the standard valvoline- this is the valvoline oil i was referring to- http://www.valvoline.com/products/consumer-products/motor-oil/racing-motor-oil/9

and i cant find the penzoil so it may not be that brand but as i stated it has been a while since i talked to isky. 

the fact that major cam manufactures are telling me that synthetic oil is bad for our engines tells me that i dont want to run it, zddp additive or not. there was a good explanation as to why, to much to go into on this topic but the basics had to do with the makeup of the synthetic oil and not adhering to the metal on the cam lobes like conventional oil. the higher valve spring pressure actually wipes the oil off the tip of the lobe with the lifter causing premature wear.