I just wanted to post my experience installing my secret cams, not to discourage anyone from doing it, but just to let people who may be in my similar situation know what they're looking at. My four friends and I sure as hell had no idea what we were in for when we started this project.
My friends and I all have a moderate knowledge of motors. None of us had personally switched out cams before, but two of our parents had, and they were nearby for reference. The swap required us to relieve the fuel system, jack up the front of the car, remove the passanger side tire and wheel shroud, remove the left motor mount, which required the use of a jack to jack my motor into a position where we could get the bolts out. The crankshaft pulley took a six foot long pipe to remove. Once we finally got the 87 bolts off the timing chain cover, we finally could get the old ones out. We had a few accidents with the retiming of my new cams, by accidently spinning the gears while the chain was off and such.
As it is now, I'm fairly sure my timing is off, 'cause my car idles oddly and the motor moves around entirely too much. I also have a check engine light all the sudden. The process took a total of 15 hours to complete, even with five hands working on it (from 4 PM to 3 AM yesterday, and 11 AM to 3 PM today).
If a mechanic did this, and knew the procedure, I can understand how it could be done in maybe 4-5 hours. But, we were lucky enough to have things like a harmonic balancer and a few breaker bars lying around. So, again, I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone like myself who is thinking about the swap, prepare for a long couple of days. And, best of luck. =)
~Wayrin
<a href="http://www.cardomain.com/id/wayrin">My Cardomain Page</a>
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sorry to hear your misfortune. With the right tools and experience the job can be done in under 3 hours. Big thing is to have an impact gun, the right size bolts for the crankshaft pully puller, and to mark the timting chain andd sporcket before pulling them off
