Here's what lies beneath the intake manifold:
The lifters don't really want to come up and out the top which tells me they're mushroomed on the bottom. I got the exhaust lifter for #1 out and it's a combination of rough, flat, and concave so I imagine the cam doesn't look great either. I've been wrestling with the idea of swapping it out for some time, and picked multiple candidates before selecting the profile that I wanted but I don't have it right now nor did I plan on swapping it any time soon. When talking with my dad about what I thought was going to be wrong with the engine I still wanted to make a change but he reasonably talked me into doing what was necessary and not much more. However..... While I was in there I was plagued with thoughts telling me that there's no better time than now, and a few about how I should check the valley and scope out the old cam but can leave it in if things looked alright. Psychiatrists call that "bargaining". I knew once I removed the intake and pushrods that I'd be replacing the cam, which is where I'm pausing at the moment. Aside from a cam kit I have everything I need as well as a couple surprises that I'm saving for later. There's a double roller, gaskets, etc.. and I do actually have a cam but it's inside another engine. One with a stripped balancer keyway and a busted starter boss. I'm strongly considering taking that cam and lifters but I don't know the actual specs on it. It was in my first truck so I'm very familiar with its manners in a 350, and it's an excellent street profile that works perfectly with the converter I just put in- they've been paired up before. I used it in an extreme budget build challenge but reusing a balancer ultimately led to the engine being pulled after a few months.
The lifters don't really want to come up and out the top which tells me they're mushroomed on the bottom. I got the exhaust lifter for #1 out and it's a combination of rough, flat, and concave so I imagine the cam doesn't look great either. I've been wrestling with the idea of swapping it out for some time, and picked multiple candidates before selecting the profile that I wanted but I don't have it right now nor did I plan on swapping it any time soon. When talking with my dad about what I thought was going to be wrong with the engine I still wanted to make a change but he reasonably talked me into doing what was necessary and not much more. However..... While I was in there I was plagued with thoughts telling me that there's no better time than now, and a few about how I should check the valley and scope out the old cam but can leave it in if things looked alright. Psychiatrists call that "bargaining". I knew once I removed the intake and pushrods that I'd be replacing the cam, which is where I'm pausing at the moment. Aside from a cam kit I have everything I need as well as a couple surprises that I'm saving for later. There's a double roller, gaskets, etc.. and I do actually have a cam but it's inside another engine. One with a stripped balancer keyway and a busted starter boss. I'm strongly considering taking that cam and lifters but I don't know the actual specs on it. It was in my first truck so I'm very familiar with its manners in a 350, and it's an excellent street profile that works perfectly with the converter I just put in- they've been paired up before. I used it in an extreme budget build challenge but reusing a balancer ultimately led to the engine being pulled after a few months.
