im planning on installing an ls6 cam this weekend and just want to make sure ive got everything covered before i start the teardown...
parts list (15k miles on truck)
cam, yellow springs, new crank bolt
no gaskets or other parts should be needed right?

also, ive heard that pulling the crank pulley and reinstalling it takes a special tool....any truth to that?

any other help/tips would be appreciated!

 

you do need a tool to remove the pulley, but you should be able to rent a 3-jaw puller from a parts store. Other than that you should be good

 

bump!

 

-rent the "chrysler harmonic balancer 3 jaw puller" or something like that from autozone. That's what we used on my truck and it made life much easier.

-Have some big pans to drain the coolant so you don't make a mess.
-Use a good size impact to reinstall the crank bolt
-The springs are easy if you use the TDC method or if you use the air compressor method. Just make sure you don't have leaks or your cam swap will turn into a 40 hour afair.
-Pressure wash your engine bay just to be on the safe side. I get the feeling if I had done this, then I wouldn't have had to tear my engine down again to replace a stuck open oil pump.

-Use some RTV gasket maker on the seal between the engine and oil pan so you don't have a leak.

Oh and the metal dowel rod method works perfectly fine, just make sure you have some good size dowels(the biggest you can fit in there). You may need to grind down one "side" of the dowel.

-Pen magnets are your friend. It will save many headaches of cutting your fingers.

-The heads are SHARP. When you take off the valve covers, use gloves because where they seal to the heads can cut the **** out of you.

There's plenty of other good little tips, but those are some of the many that would have helped me had I not had Cody(1slow01z71) doing most of the work for me.

 

Do you have to pull the oil pump?

 

www.ls1howto.com

look at the cam swap guide and read it twice before you start your swap. its your "bible"

 

Only if it fails, or if you just want to. I'd say if the truck has less than 75k then don't worry about it. Any more and I'd do it so you don't have to tear everything down twice

 

Another reason to pull the oil pump is when you want to install a new timing chain. But with only 15k miles on it, this should not be necessary.