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Thread: 5.2 cam, intake, headers swap completed, lessons learned.

  1. #1

    Cool 5.2 cam, intake, headers swap completed, lessons learned.

    Just finished buttoning up my truck after a fairly lengthy top end swap. Thought I would post up some things I learned along the way for others. This was only my 2nd cam swap and my first time pulling the topend apart.

    The idea was to just do a 210/220 cam from hipotek (on a 110) and do the valve springs/locks/retainers and be done. But as you all know these kinds of plans with cars tend to snow ball so it turned into a top end rebuild.

    I wanted the 210/220 on a 110 mostly because of the idle. I ended up finding the comp version which is the same but on a 112 part number 20-604-9 for cheap used on ebay. Cam showed up and it looked great, owner said it was run on a dyno for a few pulls before they pulled it and went with a much bigger cam. This saved me about $150.

    After doing research I came to the conclusion that the beer keg intake had to go. I wanted this to be able to pull to 5500 plus and even after cutting down the runners and modifying it, I wasnt convinced it would. I also wanted to lose the belly pan issue. I looked for quite awhile for an M1 but ended up going with the Hughes FI airgap. Looked great and went together perfect. The bracket setup for mounting the fuel rails is a little messy looking, but it assembled fine and everything lined up fine. I havent noticed any low end loss but keep in mind this is a 5 speed truck.

    I went with the JBA stainless shorty headers. Perfect fit and no leaks thus far. I made sure I followed the tightening sequence for the headers and the intake manifold.

    I ended up nicking 2 of the cam bearings when I pulled the original cam out. I was careful but the babbit bearings are super sensitive and I BARELY tapped them with a cam lobe. I was pissed initially till I noticed the bearings were not looking great anyways. I went through 2 sets of cam bearings doing the install, getting them in there straight with a cam bearing tool without pulling the engine is tricky. First set was too tight, 2nd set was still tight plus the #1 oil hole didnt line up like I wanted. 3rd set was the charm. (good thing I saved that $150 on a used cam lol) Doing the #1 bearing from the front of the block takes some patience and probably some luck. After I got the 3rd set in, I could spin the cam easily with the gear on.

    Cylinders looked great with obvious cross hatching and little to no lip at the top of the cylinder. (engine has 112k) I had the heads pressure tested and checked for cracks. I told the shop to call me when they find cracks and I'll order some bare EQ heads and have them assemble and work them a bit. I was amazed they called and said no cracks and they had only one valve seat that needed to be touched up to seal. This explains the trucks slight rough idle at cold start only, as it warmed up the valve sealed. The shop said all the machinist were joking about how they found a set of magnum heads that werent cracked! They installed the springs/locks/retainers and took off .012 to flatten them up and I was out the door for $160 I still may do the EQ heads but so far the truck runs great. I left the stock valves in.

    I reused the stock lifters as they rolled fine and showed no signs of wear or damage. I indexed EVERYTHING as it came off, push rods, lifters, rocker arms, to make sure they went back where they came from. Everything that came off was cleaned, labeled and put on the bench or the bed of the truck. The distributor was indexed on the housing to the block and on the distributor gear to the block inside. I took a pic of the notch in the gear from the top, and made sure everything went back in how it came out. I do think my fuel sync is off just a bit but it must be fairly close because the truck started right up and idled at 650. I get the occasional backfire letting off which I'm thinking is a mix of no tune, a pig rich factory tune, as well as a fuel sync setting that is probably off by 6-9? Not sure, but want to get it set before I spend the cash on a tuner and tune.

    I reused the factory pushrods. I did extensive research on this and found 2 sides to the story. Some said I would need different lengths, so said I wouldnt. I figured I would install the factory ones and if it sounded like a sewing machine, I'd measure them and order. But She purs like a pissed off kitten with no major valve train noise so I think all is good. I made sure to use a torque wrench when doing the rockers.

    Heads were torqued down after thoroughly cleaning the block face. I used Fel Pro 540 SD gaskets. Heads were torqued in sequence with new OEM bolts with a little oil on them. I chased the thread holes for the beads and the intake manifold using the old bolts that I cut a line into the threads, both pulled a good amount of dirt/grim from the holes, alot of which was probably from me working after pulling the heads/intake. I didnt have the intake decked because they only took off .012 from the heads. If they took more I may have had the intake cut/port matched.

    I reused the factory valve covers and they work fine. The lift on this cam is .512 so I'm not sure if more lift would cause the rocker to tap the valve cover. The factory covers have a baffle type thing on the top that looks like it might interfere if you are running a .550+ lift cam but someone with experience with this will have to confirm.

    I used RTV where needed and made sure to let it set up before starting. The battery was on a tender for the length of the install to make sure it could crank on the engine for a bit if it was stubborn. I only had one intake manifold bolt snap but it was removed fairly easily with some heat, PB blaster, and a notch cut into the top for a flat head bit. I soaked every fastener for for about 3 days before starting, all exhaust manifold bolts backed out fine (surprising).

    New double roller timing set went on fine. Made sure the dots were lined up facing each other which puts cylinder 6 at TDC (cylinder 1's companion cylinder). This is what can cause some people to install the dist and find they are 180 out. If the dots are both at 12 o clock it will be TDC on #1, but cam at 6 and crank at 12 puts the dots close for easy line up, and as long as the dist is put back correctly, all is good.

    I made sure to change the bypass hose from the water pump to the intake while I was in there, its buried and too cheap of a part to not change while its torn town.

    Plenty of assembly lube was used on reassembly. Cam, timing chain/gears, both ends of pushrods, lifters, valve tips, everywhere. Oil was changed before initial startup and new 5w30 synthetic is going in after its fuel sync/tune is sorted here soon. Cylinders were sprayed and wiped out before heads went on. Pistons showed little carbon buildup.

    I swear by labeling everything as it comes off. Connectors are labeled A, B , C etc. This made the reassemble to very quickly as I spent very little time having to remember where this or that went. Take pictures also, takes very little time and can be a big help.

    Don't forget the head ground straps. First because it sucks realizing they are still attached when you have 50 lbs of cast iron in your hands as you're hanging over the fender. 2nd is because a faulty ground can be a MASSIVE pita to track down if you dont think to look for it. The electrical gremlins that show up with a faulty ground are quite impressive.

    Now for the good part. The truck started right up after getting the air out of the rails/injectors (resused stock injectors). The idle is awesome, plenty choppy and I'm not sure if the 110 would have been too much? Either way it sounds awesome and even though its probably running pig rich and the injectors are firing either too late or too early, it runs strong. Actually pulls past 3000 now and I cant wait to see how it runs with a tune in it.

    (UPDATE.. I had the fuel sync checked and it was at +12, so even after very carefully indexing everything with the distributor, I was still off by quite a bit but the truck ran fine. Now that its at approximately zero it idles better and doesnt pop and cackle coming off the gas like it used to. Ill update again after I get my FRP tune in it but I can tell it is still very rich.)

    Alot of work but highly recommend it if you're on the fence on a cam swap. I'll try to get a idle vid but youtube sucks these days so might have to find another spot to host it. Let me know if you guys have any questions.
    Last edited by 4.56'd5.7; 08-19-2018 at 03:11 PM.

  2. #2


    ScojoDak's Avatar
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    Make em breathe and they'll respond. Nice
    If you haven't lived for something, you'll die for nothing.

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    99dart's Avatar
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    Wow, nice write up! Very detailed for the newbie's out there. It's a "good thing" when she fires off first try. Gotta love it.
    99 DA CC R/T
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    Good write-up! I'm in the middle of doing the same thing minus the cam. I agree, label everything that comes off or is disconnected, it may be painstaking but it will payoff in the end when you have one end of a connector in your hand and have no idea where it goes, but you know it goes somewhere because you took it off!!!! LOL
    White 98D SLT+ 5.9, 2.02 R/T Heads, 1:7 RR, IP CAI, MP PCM, PPH Headers, M1, MP Deep Trannie Pan, Detroit in back. T/S Lift, Lookin for more stuff to do LOL!

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