another cam thread

A simpler way to determine the approx ratio of your gears in your driveway is to jack up the rear end and rotate your wheel one full turn slowly and count how many times your drive shaft rotates. That will give you a pretty close indication as to what gear you have.

For example, I tested it on my Charger and as I rotated the wheel I watched the drive shaft rotate ALMOST 4 full turns, which led me to believe (semi-educated guess) it was a 3:91 gear. After some research from the previous owner he told me it was indeed a 3:91 gear. Viola!

 

WORTH IT.

 

Got the shift kit in and the car timed correctly finally. Going to do the cam swap this afternoon. After u run the car for 25+ min to break the cam in, do u need to do anything else? Is it cool to drive as normal after that? Spirited driving? Do I have to change the oil again immediTely after the cam break in procedure? Do I have to re-powertime the car?

 

I would change right after cam break in. No need to baby it I don't think. Since you will be removing the dizzy you will have to set the initial timing to what it is now, but shouldn't have to go through the whole power timing sequence.

 

serious issue with the cam swap. the second bearing fused itself to the cam somehow and is preventing the cam from coming out of the engine. how do i fix this issue. there was never any indication of a problem prior to going into the engine. infact, the seller told me that the engine had been freshly rebuilt. hard to believe with the slack i found in the timing chain and this bearing that is siezed. i'm frustrated here guys and don't know what to do? do i have to remove the engine to replace these bearings? also, the fuel cam has significant wear on it. is this normal? should it be replaced? what could have caused this?

 

Are you sure it is the bearing keeping the cam in and not the crank hitting the cam? Have you tried rotating the engine over a bit?

You can get a brearing install tool and change the bearings with the engine in the car it is just a bit tricky.

 

I put the engine at TDC. The timing marks on the chain were lined up and the rotor pointed at the number one cylinder. That should've been it right? How much slack should be in the timing chain?

 

That shouldve read timing marks on the gears were lined up. The second bearing is stuck to the cam. It is pressing against the first bearing and preventing the cam from coming out the engine.

 

Can I slide-hammer this cam out with no reproductions? I don't know the right way yo do this job? Force the cam or do I have to pull the motor?

 

I think you will have to force the cam out... Hopefully you can keep from damaging the block where the bearings seat.

 

I have the cam out. Doesn't look like I damaged anything. The second bearing is stuck to the cam and forced the first bearing out as I removed the cam. How do I get these two bearings in? Slide the bearings over the new cam or somehow needle nose them in from the front? Lube them?

 

Good work!

Ask Cason what tool he used, he had good luck changing the bearings wtih the engine in the car... He was not able to change the rear bearing, but he was able to change the front 4.

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=174195&highlight=bearing

 

i sent him a private message telling him my situation and asking for him to call so i can speak to him about the job and borrowing his tool possibly. thanks for all your help!

 

So what was supposed to be an out with the old, in with the new kind of job turned into a monster of a pain. Long story short, the cam is in and sounds awesome. However, the bearings needed replaced which needed a "$100 special tool"not complete. Yay...not to mention the ol American jerk around at the parts stores. I also found out i only have a 2.56 rearend. Awesome....not. In the end, I'm glad I did it myself. The butt dyno is pleased, however the sound is better than the performance gain. All said and done I did it for $800 which is t bad. I figure about half of what it'd cost me to pay someone, plus I learned and enjoyed parts of it. Sooner or later I'll post a vid once I figure out how.

 

So I just checked and it has 10 bolts over the rear diff as u suggested Larry. A gear swap should certainly benefit my application don't you think? What ratio do you suggest?

 

Do you have a good dual exhaust? If not do that next then upgrade the rear gear ratio... Another great mods would be a higher stall converter however it is a fair amount of work to install.

I agree, contact Monzaz he will set you up with what you need:

http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?find=lastposter&t=237164

 

Currently the exhaust setup is walker longtube headers into glasspacks. No pipe after the mufflers. Is this a henderance? I pm'd monzaz about the gear swap. Thanks for the input and recommendations on gear sizes. Gas mileage is a bit of a concern, as I may drive the car daily from time to time. The gear swap should be fairly painless right?

 

You will see no loss in high RPM power however the idle to 3000 RPM will be found with a low restriction exhaust like yours. Any Buick 350 like to breath through a free flowing exhaust however too little of a backpressure will cause inefficient exhaust chamber scavenging. I have tested this a bit and found that the low RPM performance is best (on my Buick 350s) with about 6 feet of 2.5" pipe and a magnaflow mufler on each side. The full throttle power with the open headers VS above setup was the same.

I would pay a pro to rebuild the rear end and add the new gearing... It is not a bolt in thing, it requires special tools, technique, and some time. I am paying Monzaz to build the rear end for my car, then he will ship it to where my car is being built.

Honestly, if you care at all about the fuel milage then leave the gear ratio alone. If you do go with a new gear ratio then also add a good Limited Slip Differential while you are in there.