Motor Rebuild

[2doortahoetoby]

I’m looking to rebuild a spare motor for my Tahoe. My current vortec motor has 243k on it and leaks oil everywhere. Looking to do a cam kit on it. I have a 98 vortec motor was going to use my new Delphi MPFI spider on it for just simplicity, drivability, and to keep the cost down. Anyone have any recommendations for a cam kit? Want to do best for everyday driving, while making a bit more power. Looking for the best kit possible here, and what else I need. Roller rockers, lifters, fresh seals, hydraulic cam, and I’m gonna take the “new” motor to a machine shop to get cleaned up and have then install new valve guides and anything intricate. Any recommendations or personal experience out there for these motors?

 

[95 Tahoe]

Degree time the cam when you put it back in. Just went through questioning if it's right. I went dot to dot.

 

[Drunkcanuk]

I’m looking to rebuild a spare motor for my Tahoe. My current vortec motor has 243k on it and leaks oil everywhere. Looking to do a cam kit on it. I have a 98 vortec motor was going to use my new Delphi MPFI spider on it for just simplicity, drivability, and to keep the cost down. Anyone have any recommendations for a cam kit? Want to do best for everyday driving, while making a bit more power. Looking for the best kit possible here, and what else I need. Roller rockers, lifters, fresh seals, hydraulic cam, and I’m gonna take the “new” motor to a machine shop to get cleaned up and have then install new valve guides and anything intricate. Any recommendations or personal experience out there for these motors?

You will get as many answers as people who answer, hopefully that makes sense.
Call up your favorite cam manufacturer and have a chat about your wants and needs. They will help you probably a lot more than a bunch of bench racers (meant that with love y'all).

 

[Scooterwrench]

I've always installed cams dot to dot and never had an issue. You only need to degree a cam if you're tailoring the RPM range. Retard them a little if you want to lower the HP and torque range,advance it if you want to raise the ranges.

 

[2doortahoetoby]

Degree time the cam when you put it back in. Just went through questioning if it's right. I went dot to dot.

I am a newbie with motor work! So I was hoping to find some information on a cam kit that I could install and not mess with anything as far as installation goes

 

[2doortahoetoby]

I've always installed cams dot to dot and never had an issue. You only need to degree a cam if you're tailoring the RPM range. Retard them a little if you want to lower the HP and torque range,advance it if you want to raise the ranges.

Well I just don’t want a cam that is tailored for drag or something on hard acceleration and straight line driving. Just better daily performance, along with better power put to the ground

 

[Komet]

Who will be retuning your engine for the volumetric efficiency changes from the new cam?

 

[Scooterwrench]

First thing you need to decide is how you're gonna use your truck. What RPM range you're gonna run,if you will be towing trailers,etc. The ugly truth is unless you put the exact same cam back in that your engine has now you will have to change the tune in the ECM. My choice for a street engine would be a cam with a broad torque range that starts at 1200-1500 RPM.

 

[2doortahoetoby]

Who will be retuning your engine for the volumetric efficiency changes from the new cam?

I’ve read a lot about black bear tunes, that they seem to be the holy grail for these trucks; however, there is a local guy who does a lot of dyno tuning that gets a lot of praise around where I’m from. Might start with black bear just because they’re a more reputable brand, and because there is limited communication to do something like a dyno tune

 

[2doortahoetoby]

First thing you need to decide is how you're gonna use your truck. What RPM range you're gonna run,if you will be towing trailers,etc. The ugly truth is unless you put the exact same cam back in that your engine has now you will have to change the tune in the ECM. My choice for a street engine would be a cam with a broad torque range that starts at 1200-1500 RPM.

Yes I’m looking for a cam classified as a “daily/street” cam. That’s usually the RPM range I keep an eye out for, just a lot of stuff I don’t understand when reading other things about cams