Well, today was the day I was going to put my cam in the truck. I got everything I needed and went to Autozone to rent a Valvespring compressor. They didnt have the "crowbar" style compressor, they had one that looked like a pulley puller and I was thinking great, this thing is a joke...



My buddy and I get ready to start and I decided I would test out this joke of a compressor on one of my old iron heads... I DIDNT EVEN GET ONE ****** SPRING OFF BEFORE THE POS BROKE!!!

Im glad I didnt have my entire engine torn apart when I decided to test this thing out. That would have really had me heated. So I took it back to those idiots and told them it was ****. Also, the idiot couldnt figure out why I needed to buy 16 pen magnets, LOL so I just told him I had a wierd obsession with pen magnets. He didnt know what a ******* valvespring was...

So tomarrow morning Im going to Napa to see if they have what I need, if they dont I'm either gonna make one or spend $150 on the one TR sells..

 

Well, GM V8's do have stronger valve springs than Honda Civics or Mazda 626's, so I guess it's not surprising. I've found that NAPA usually has pretty good stuff, though. Anyway I have to admit, ya got me on the pen magnets. How are those used? OT, I love my AEM wideband. How do you like your 3200 stall?

 

the pen magnets are used to keep your lifters up.

 

HAHAHA Must have been an APC valve spring compressor lol!

 

If you can wait, I strongly recommend the Crane/VHP valvespring tool, it's frickin awesome! I've used a few different styles (the More tool, the one with 3 prongs that cranks down, crowbar style [on older gen sbc's]) and the VHP tool is the best by far. It does 2 springs at a time, compresses them flat and evenly, and requires very little effort...no bicep workout. When I ordered mine (direct from VHP), I had it in less than a week. I'm sure if you called them they would expedite shipping for you...Vinci High Performance, sponsor to the right>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Yeah I forgot all about the Vinci tool I need to check it out.

GMC_DUDE- Yeah the pen magnets are to hold the lifters up when you slip the cam out. Stall is not in yet, it will go in Saturday. It is the same one I had in my old truck, made by Dacco, for the $$$ I love it. Especially since I know my tranny will go soon enough, Id rather not toast a $500 verter, but a $200 one. The AEM wideband is the ****, very convenient.

 

i thought when you have the push rods out, all you had to do was spin the cam a few times and that would push the lifters up so they don't fall down? Please explain to me the magnet trick as i am about to do a cam swap in about a month.

 

They call that the "Russian Roulette" method.

Basicly the lifters are held up by the plastic deals in the lifter valley, but they are in no way secure. By using retractable pen magnets, you guarantee the lifters are secure.

What you do is stick them down the hole where the pushrod was until is attaches to the lifter, then spin the cam and bend the clip on the magnet to keep it secure. Here a good how-to on a cam swap...how-to

 

Russian roulette method
Now, this method has been in use for years and requires no magnets or special tools, however, it is prone to disaster. Below the LS1 cylinder head, there is a plastic "lifter cup", and when you spin the camshaft the lifters go up deeper into the plastic holder and friction alone keeps them from falling back down. I personally have done 8-9 cams using this method and I never had an issue, however, on the 10th cam I tried to do there were 2 lifters that quite simply just wouldn't stay up. That is when the magnet method or the JPR method become necessary, not just recommended. After seeing several LS1's now with lifters that would just *barely* stay up, there's no way I'd ever attempt this, but if you're feeling lucky give it a shot.

Basically, all you do is spin the cam a few times and that's it. Turn off any bass coming out of your speakers, hope there is no thunder or earthquakes, and say your prayers. If a lifter falls, don't say I didn't warn you, I don't care how many buddies you know that have done a cam swap this way.



Pen magnet method
If you don't have the tool in option 1, the next best thing is to go buy 16 retractable pen magnets from Walmart/AutoZone/wherever you can find them. The heads on the magnets need to be small as the opening to get to the lifter is a little less than 1/2" in diameter.

Once you have the magnets, extend the magnet about 6" and put it down the pushrod holes in the head. You should feel it 'snap' onto the lifter and at that point you should be able to push the lifter up and down. Rotate the cam some while doing this so you can understand how this works. The lifter rides on the cam, so you need to make sure (by spinning the cam) that the lifter is UP away from the cam. The magnet is there to help the lifter stay up, so you need to squish the retractable part down and bend the pocket hook on the pen magnet outwards some to grab on to the head. Hooking the pocket hook onto the bolt hole for the rocker arm bolt usually works well.

Install all 16 magnets to hold up all the lifters. Now, spin the cam and if ANY of your pen magnets move when you do this, then that lifter is hanging down too low. Use the magnet and spin the cam to hold the lifter up higher.



JPR Lifter tool method
This method is by far the easiest. You'll need to buy the JPR Cam install tool available from Thunder Racing.

If you have these, it'll make this a no sweat operation. To install them, you simply slide them into the 2 holes in the front of the motor. The one marked "L" goes in on the passengers side of the motor, and the one marked "R" goes on the drivers side of the engine. The tool head will face up and outward as shown in the image.

If it seems the tools are tough to get in, try spinning the cam a couple more times and slowly sliding the tool in. Once both are in, the lifters are locked into place making it impossible for them to fall! Great!

 

I have the Vinci compressor as well. Very good tool. $99 if I remember right. The mangets hold the lifters up. You can spin the cam and hope for the best. Its called the suicide method because if you drop a lifter after the cam comes out you'll want to shoot yourself by the time you get finished....