Camshaft swap without cam gear removal. possible?

[bazeng]

Hi All,

Is it possible to swap out Cam shafts without removal of the timing belt or Cam gear?

Just want to reduce the time for this job..

Going from hks 272 to tomei 260s...

Any advice appreciated..

Thanks

 

[G]

Yes, I believe it's dubbed a "dirty" cam swap and involves zip ties.

 

[turbowop]

I've done it. Just make sure you keep tension on the timing belt from above via bungie cords or something when you pull the sprockets off. Zip tie the belt to the cam sprockets. You still gotta release the tension off it with the long threaded rod first though.

 

[bazeng]

Exactly how i was thinking... What did you tie your Cam gear to from above? Engine crane or something?

 

[JNR]

I imagine if you have a hood installed, you can grab the other end from above somewhere..I did something similar with my nissan to hold up something, although if I need tension I would not use a bungee cord if it's not really taught, although if you have an assortment, then one of them is bound to be just the right length. If you don't have a hood installed, then would just need to be creative.

 

[turbowop]

I used one of the holes in the hood skeleton to anchor a bungie cord to. Like JNR said, use a bungie cord that is short enough to keep it taught though. I assumed that anybody doing this would know to not use a long floppy bungie... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

[James]

Hhmmmmmm how complicated is this? Maybe removing just the cams would be easier than rotating the motor over and over again to remove/install my new lifters

 

[snohacking]

click

There you go

 

[bazeng]

Great, should be piece of cake then!

 

[rgeier11]

I've done it this way a couple times.

 

[bazeng]

Hi Guys,

Just an update.
I decided to do a full removal and swap because I needed to change the cam gears.
I had a set of Tomei Adjustable cam gears installed and the coating had worn through to the metal.

Check out the photos.

It now idles much better with the Tomei 260 / 260 cams and smaller injectors.

My quest for a more drivable car is coming along nicely.

I cannot recommend enough the AMS timing belt tools (cam gear tool). This allowed me to align the marks without the belt and simply slip the timing belt over without any fuss. It usually takes a bit of playing around to align the cam gears, not hard but can be annoying.

Before with Tomei cam gears and HKS 272/272 cams


Old setup and New setup


Lifters bled and reinstalled


New setup installed (Tomei 260/260 with SSR cam gears)


HKS 272/272 camshafts
Tomei cam gears - note metal visable through coating. Timing belt was OK though, no damage. HKS Timing belt was used.





New setup with timing marks all OK after a few rotations.
4mm drill bit used to gap tensioner.
AMS camshaft tool used to aling marks on cam gears.
Jay Racing tool used to rotate tensioner pulley.



How long does it normally take you guys to do a belt from start to finish?
This is the 5th timing belt I've done on these cars and it gets easier each time...

 

[turbowop]

I'm pretty fast at them now. I pulled the belt on 503 to install a new oil pump seal and had it apart and back together within a few hours taking my time in a cold garage.