How do you swap 3.0 cams into a 3.2?

[sho_bc]

You left out the part that the intake cams in the 3.0L head are slightly more aggressive that the intake cams in the 3.2L head.

not really, as i wasn't talking about the cams, just the heads themselves. i think/thought (without re-reading it again cause i'm lazy like that ) that that was covered somewhere else in this thread. but yes, the 3.0 mtx intake cams have a slightly more aggressive grind than the 3.2 atx intake cams. the exhaust cams are identical.

 

[Randall]

Hey FoeSHO, your pic is funny, but instead of posting it, maybe you can actually be a help to me, hmmm?
Obviously I googled cam swaps and found nothing of great detail, which is why I posted the question here. I think you misused that pic here as I just need some help, and have already made a few donations to the forum to show that I am serious, but I still haven't gotten quite what I am looking for, although I think I am close because of some of the great posts in this thread.

Anyway, if anyone can tell me the exact, or close to it, procedure of how to remove the 3.0's and replace them into the 3.2 heads I would be extremely grateful!!

 

[sho_bc]

Yes, you would have to line the cams up. Hopefully this will make sense to you/be correct, as i'm pulling this from memory when we did +20 cams for GR8WYT. mark with a grease pen on the chain where the dimple meets the chain (remember, you only need to switch intake cams), and remove the 3.2 cams without rotating the chain at all. pull the 3.0 intake cams, and line up the dimple in the 3.0 cog with the mark on the cam chain.

*disclaimer* please check with someone more knowledgable before doing this. We did Kevin's cams quite a few years ago, and i think i was doing something else when Mike switched cams on my 3.2 during my build.

*edit* oh yeah, remember to **** up the journals and not touch them when moving them over.

 

[Randall]

thanks again SHO BC!! I think I feel a little better after reading your last post about marking the chains before taking the cams out, and so I will do it that way. Do you just tighten the journals down in stages after installing the 3.0 cams to avoid damage to the journals or cam lobes?

 

[Off Road SHO]

Randall,

Yes you have to tighten the journals in a certain sequence and of course to a certain torque, both of which I can't remember but are in the helms manual. The biggest problem you'll have is cam "popup". This is because some of the lobes will be pushing down on the valve springs and when you unthread the cam bearing caps, the tension of the valve springs tend to want to "help" you strip out the last couple of threads of the bearing cap bolts. Not the bolt's threads but the head's threads.

To avoid this, align both engines to be in the same firing position, making sure that the cams of both engines are in the same position, AND that none of the lobes of the intake cams are pressing down on a shim. Now mark the chains and sprockets before you remove anything, on BOTH engines, at the same spots. You now have your own set of reference points.

Now you can loosen all of the intake cam bearing cap bolts without fear of "popup". Swap the intake cams over and re-tighten and torque the cam bearing cap bolts. Do not over torque these, it's very easy to do.

Tom

 

[sho_bc]

Thanks for jumping in Tom! (listen to what he said ^^^^) :type:

 

[Randall]

Thanks very much Tom!!! I think I can do it now! My old 3.0 is destroyed, so it can't turn over, but I will try to turn the cams over by hand prior to pulling the intakes out.

 

[Off Road SHO]

Disconnect the timing belt and you can use a crescent wrench on the cams to turn them. They'll stay sync'd together with the chains.

Tom