Time needed for Camshaft Change 5.3

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Dan Acosta

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I am thinking of the whole project of a cam change in my 05. It is my daily driver, so time is critical. What kind of time am I looking at for a cam change, with and without the spring change. Thanks
 

Sasquatch

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A friend of mine can do an ls cam swap in three to four hours but he`s a mechanic and has done a bunch of them. I would say you could get it done in an afternoon if its your first time.
 

Scottydoggs

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ill vote: if your first time, plan on the whole weekend and change the damn springs. dont start skimping now.
 

Rocket Man

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I did mine along with dual springs, oil pump and timing gear in a weekend. That's without pulling the heads using the 2 rods to hold up the lifters. Just the cam without springs you could do it in a day most likely.
 

swathdiver

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Crane and Cam Motion both have drop in camshafts with lifts below the maximum for stock springs, so you don't have to change them. You do not even have to pull the heads, just the front cover. A long day if you've never done it before.
 

Sgtduckyboy

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I just did this as my 6th cylinder exhaust lifter froze up. I used a Melling MTC-7 with spring upgrade. its a class 1 cam, designed for stock tune. its been tuned as of yesterday, the idle was a little off and would stall sometimes, it did run better under 91/93 octane on a 91 tune with my predator diablo it ran just about 10% lean, within range but the longer opening adds more air to the combustion. I did mine over 3 weeks as I didnt have any idea what went wrong and it was 10 degrees in the garage, I only worked at nights. I ran into a few problems with stripped bolts and threads. I'd recommend while you are in there, you have to remove the oil pump and timing gear, replace it. One take away I had was the install of the oil pump. I didnt notice nor was tehre any documentation of the 'dimples' on the gerotor gear in the pump as you assemble it, make sure the 'dimples' are facing you. I didnt know this and I'm hoping they are out and if not, it doesnt hurt! I also replaced, cam sensor, oil pressure switch, engine coolant and MAP sensor. I also cleaned my throttle body, air intake housing, injectors, dropped in new plugs and new water pump.
I think this could be done in a weekend easily, just have an extra set of hands, all the tools/parts there, I'd order all the parts i mentioned, then return what you dont use. I have the service manual in PDF form, it did help with some of the procedures, sequences and torques.
 

ivin74

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I did mine along with dual springs, oil pump and timing gear in a weekend. That's without pulling the heads using the 2 rods to hold up the lifters. Just the cam without springs you could do it in a day most likely.



Rocketman
What specs did you use? did you install it on the Denali or the crew cab?
 

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