High mileage. . . still cam worthy?
Jul 17, 2010 | 07:50 AM
#1
Thread Starter
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,513
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From: St. Louis Area
High mileage. . . still cam worthy?
My cc just rolled 100,000. It's a dd, but I only live about 3 miles from work so I won't be racking up the miles very quickly. I was just curious to hear some opinoins on a mild cam on a motor with high miles. I'm not building a rocket ship, but a mild cam would be a thought. I have also thought about doing a 6.0 down the road, but I don't know if the 4.10s and 6.0 would ever get over 14mpg. Just a thought process for now 
Jul 17, 2010 | 07:57 AM
#2
TECH Resident
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 870
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From: Enid, OK
My 95 had about 160,000 miles on it when I put a little comp flat tappet RV cam in it. Then about 195,000 I decided I still needed more and put a LT4 hot cam in it. Around 180,000 it got some mildly ported vortec heads. About 6 months ago it got a single plane high rise intake. I don't see the problem with it so long as the engine is in good mechanical condition. I do need to put a set of rod bearings in mine at the least just as preventative maintenance. I know if I beat on it there is a good change its going to fail, most likely a broken crank or spun bearings, something along those lines, but with the miles its got on it, its had a good life.
Jul 17, 2010 | 02:57 PM
#5
Make sure and be careful pulling the old cam and installing the new one. The lifter cups are surely worn pretty bad and won't hold very firmly. I'd recommend using dowel rods to hold up the lifters.
Jul 17, 2010 | 03:13 PM
#7
My 99 had 170k on it when i put a 125 shot of nitrous on it, had a 206/212 cam, headers tune and the nitrous on it and I sold it with 228k on it and it is still running around like that to my knowledge. These motors will run a very very long time without much wear if they are maintained reasonably.
