Yuke60

yeah, i will definitely go for the bolt.

I'm not sure about pulling houses, but I'd be happy enough to keep her out of the mud for a few days! We had a TON of rain recently and part of our yard was a little wetter than expected. I was doing yardwork and the grass held my weight just fine but i guess it was mud underneath, it was like driving into quicksand. I didn't even have time to pop it into 4x4 before she stopped. Two trucks pulling at the same time couldn't even budge it, and the tow truck was breaking straps until he got out his big chain, then finally got me out. Holy cow that was a long night...

dragr1

Is there anyone out there making 4.30's for a 14 bolt? I thought you had to jump from 4.10 to 4.56?

Yuke60

Well, I have everything on order! I ended up going with the butt-kicker cam from VHP, and also getting their spring kit and rods. I found a cam change kit from texas speed that had the gaskets, arp crank bolt and couple of other things. I'm so excited now i can't stand it!

I do have a couple of questions for those that have been through this already. I haven't been able to find any kind of flywheel locking tool that will ship to a PO box in Canada, and I don't want to jam a screwdriver in. I was thinking of using a rachet type tow strap or two, and loop them through the harmonic balancer openings so that both hook ends are on the truck frame and only the strap is touching the harm balancer. If I use two straps, one going to each side of the truck, it should lock it in place pretty tightly. Do you guys think that would work?

Also, I still have the stock fan, is that fairly easy to remove, or do I need anything special?

And thanks again for all of your help guys, I never would have gotten this far without it.

Bama2door

You'll need to go to advanced or any auto parts store and rent a clutch fan removal tool and then you grap a coat hanger. Thread the hanger through one of the small holes on the front of the water pump pulley and then what I do is wrap it around where the upper rad hose goes into the water pump and then use the tool and unscrew the fan.

The idea about the straps to the frame sounds pretty good, but I just stick a big piece of piping in between the balancer and jam it against the frame and untighten the bolt.

When you put the balancer back on after you swap the cam can be a little tricky. It would be a good idea to get the same thread size bolt as the stock one, except get one that is 1" longer. If not you kind of have to beat the balancer on with a 2x4 and hammer and it can be kind of sketchy at times...

Yuke60

cool thanks for the fan info.

I was planning on using a bolt, washer or two, and a shallow socket to get the balancer back in place.

I hope this goes well. I think I'm most afraid of breaking the head off the balancer bolt...

Bama2door

I wouldn't even worry about that. Just make sure you have the right size socket (I think 18 or 19mm).

You need to get some pen magnets or wooden dowel rods to hold the lifters up also.

There's a whole write up on ls1howto.com or just google "cam swap ls1howto"

Yuke60

yup, I think I've looked at it about 50 times already! I didn't see anything about removing the fan though. Its okay, i've got the Haynes manual... I should probably take a look at it...

I'm definitely going the oiled 5/16 dowel method, sound like a no-worry kind of thing.

Fastcount03

iTrader: (13)

On the fan, find a wrench or get a crescent, slide it on the fan nut then hit down on it with a hammer. It will break loose everytime and spin right off by hand. It works great!