Well, this all certainly sucks. Haha. I was really hoping someone would just remind me to press the magic "cam-release" button.... (obviously joking) Luckily, I had already taken this week off.

I'm on the lookout for a short-block now. L92/LS3 or larger.

I wonder if anyone has ever kept VVT with a stroker.... For the mileage.

 

Or maybe a 4.8 and one of those stupid TVS things.

 

Do you have other forms of transportation? If so, you can go ahead and "yank" that cam out. If its not the center cam bearing, chances are a good machine shop can install a new cam bearing with the rotation assembly still in the block.

 

I had a 5.3 that spun the center cam bearing, Engine was shut off when oil pressure dropped.

Removed engine, pulled cam, and installed all new durabond cam bearings with engine still in longblock form. Took a little extra care and time to make sure bearings were seated correctly and oil hole aligned.

That same engine is still alive today (has about 20K miles on it since) and runs really well.

 

Maybe I'm thinking a seized cam bearing is worse that it really is. It would seem to me that the cam bearing is now galled to the cam and rotating in the block. I'm assuming the block is no good now because that bore will be over-sized.

Is this not accurate?

 

My cam bearing had self destructed but the block was still in the factory spec.

 

had thi shappen in my 08 ly6 6.0 pulling the vvt cam it wouldnt come out at all i was there for hours trying to pull that pos out..was frustrating...lucky engine was out i removed rear cover and bumped it from rear...and well it pulled a cam bearing while it came out...sucks but machine shop charged me 60 bucks to put new ones

 

I think the material of the cam bearings will give way before the block material is damaged in most cases.

 

My 5.3 did somthing similar.. It would come out about 4 lobes and then wouldn't budge.. We finally just yanked it out and listened to the "ding ding ding clink doomp" sound.. Cam bearing fell out... Pulled the 5.3 out and stuck a 6.0 in its place.. Been scrared to pull a cam out ever since haha

 

Cant say for sure since youve got an aluminum block and my experience is with an iron block, obviously the aluminum will yield easier than iron. The iron blocks dont seem to get messed up but they do make oversized cam bearings too. Im afraid that might warranty pulling the rotating assembly though to bore the cam bearing bore. Not sure though as Im not a machinist. Only way to know is yank it out and measure the bore with a dial bore gauge.