Camshaft kit help

[Burn2k12Ram]

Any update on your build?

 

[ctwalton15]

Any update on your build?

Posting an update. Tomorrow I am starting to dissemble the motor to replace the cam shaft and lifters. I will take pictures and hopefully posting on here. I am taking the heads to have them checked for warpage, cleaned, and possibly having the valve seats done.

 

[ctwalton15]

Alrighty. Posting the first update into the tear down.

So far everything is going somewhat smooth. Worked on it from roughly noon to about 7 pm. This is kind of the route I did, first I started by pulling the radiator, Draining it and had to essentially unbolt the fan shroud, radiator, and ac condenser that is bolted to the rad, there were 3 bolts I believe and you could use a phillips on them but I didn't (had to remove the coolant reservoir to get to 2 of them. With some persuasion, I was able to wiggle the radiator out then the fan shroud. From there I was tackling loosening the clutch fan which was a pain in the ass till I saw a youtube video (i believe) of someone taking a quarter inch extension and sticking it through one of the holes on the water pump pulley to keep it stationary and that did the trick. For anyone asking you need to loose CLOCKWISE, towards the driver side and it is a 36MM. Was able to finally get it off. From there I unbolted the Alternator 2 bolts and unbolted the power steering pump and moved it to the side above the driver side frame rail as you can see in one of the photos. Next I started unplugging the coils and injectors pain in the ass to get to some of them and with 150k miles they don't always unplug nicely, especially the injectors with the red safety lock. Got those unplugged and unbolted them, removed them as well as the coils. Next route I took was unbolting the intake manifold. In the process I had to unhook some hoses I believe one was a PCV and the other was some sort of vacuum hose? I'm not sure but It broke because it was fragile so I'll need to order it. You can see that hard plastic hose in one of the photos where I circled where it broke. Anyways got the intake unbolts and unplugged, that connector on the rear of it is always a b**** but I had it removed roughly 5-10k miles ago to replace a mds solenoid so it wasn't as bad this time.


So far I've made a little progress, not a lot looking at it now but just somewhat going at my own pace. I will say a couple things I highly recommend using tool wise is a 3/8 Long icon flex head ratchet from harbor freight. Definitely a life saver and she's got some balls on her, she can handle a bit of torque. I highly highly recommend it, comes in handy.

Another tool I've been using, wasn't mine but I was hesitant on them but after using one it definitely made things go somewhat quicker. It was the 3/8 milwaukee m12 extended electric ratchet. Like I said been real hesitant on buying one and seeing a lot of people online using one. So I tried one and it does its job nicely. somewhat compact for using something electric. Highly recommend.

Anyways that was my "two cents" I just hope this helps someone in the future tackling this job and definitely will continue to keep updating. Back to it in the morning.

 

[ctwalton15]

Alright. Day 2 of pulling the heads.

Today was somewhat a slower day. More words expressed and some setbacks on my end.

Started to get the water pump unbolted the rest of the way. My biggest issue will be putting the correct bolts back into the correct spots because there are about 3 different lengths of bolts used for it. I was able to get it off really with no issues.

Next was the crank pulley. This thing pissed me off big time. I went and bought a 3 jaw puller since the one we have wasn’t mine and didn’t feel like digging for it. $20 was what it cost so can’t complain and I can say I’ve got my own. It took me about an hour of leaning over the truck and about rupturing my sternum several time (painful but who am I to complain) the way the crank pulley was designed is the holes on it were very small and a pain but I was able to finally pull it off. No real issues there when I did get it

Then I focused on the timing cover. You can see a bunch of bolts that hold the timing cover in. I will say there are the front 3 and 1 on either side of the oil pan that will HAVE to be removed in order to access the timing cover. I also believe in my update from yesterday that I mentioned there were 3 total bolts holding the ac compressor on. I only remove the front 2 that I believe bolt to the timing cover and you DO NOT need to remove the third bolt in the rear of it because it is a pain to get to and it’s just going to waste more time when it comes to assembly time.

Lastly was exhaust time. You can see in one of the photos below one of the previous owners had headers installed which I believe are the BBKs. They were stamped but very hard to see the middle letter till I looked just a little bit ago and they match almost exactly. Here is where the struggle began. I had a buddy over assisting. I spent roughly an hour and a half trying to get these manifolds off of the driver side which I was not successful. I did remote the brake booster and the master cylinder so it gave me more room when it came time to pull the heads. The way those manifolds are designed. It is almost impossible to the bolts on the bottom row except for the first on the front for cylinder #1. Struggling on I didn’t want to at all because typically I haven’t had luck but I was able to unbolt them from the cats. Luckily I don’t think the exhaust has been put on a long time ago so the bolts were not seized, they just looked like they were going snap if you looked at them. So luckily I was able to get them unbolted with some persuasion.

From there I could’ve proceeded with pulling the heads tonight but it was about 8 o clock since I had to run an errand and it is supposed to rain in the morning I believe so I’m just waiting till then. Like I said I shouldn’t have much more it should just be time to pull those. I do not know if I’m going to remove the timing chain or cam yet until I get the heads back so I’m not completing removing everything and 2 weeks later go to assemble it back together and I don’t remember what I’ve done.

 

[ctwalton15]

Sorry didn't post an update Monday night raining its ass off all day was rushing to get the heads pulled and taken to the machine shop before they closed


So far all I needed to do Monday was unbolt the rocker shaft and remove them. Kind of nice they labeled the rocker shafts which ones are the intake with a little "I". I believe 4 or 5 bolts per shaft, all 10 mm. Pulled the shafts and labelled my pushrods to know which cylinders they went to, I just used sandwich ziplock bags and its been working pretty well to keep everything specific as in which bolts go where and obviously to keep the push rods seperated. Nothing was bent everything looks good. All of my cylinders have the crosshatching still and the lower end spins really nice with a socket no play and no friction. I believe I mentioned in the update before this I couldn't remove the manifolds because they are aftermarket BBK's and no access to some of the bolts, so just unbolted from the cats and pulled them as an assembly, worked pretty alright actually. But essentially was able to get the heads pulled and this is where I stopped, mechanically.

I'm not going to tear into timing or to my oil pump yet until I get the heads back which i'm told will be roughly 2-3 weeks. Which I don't have an issue with that just gives me more time and a bit more money to buy some extra parts i'd like to replace so I just simply don't have to for a minute. I'm debating on buying a new radiator, I need to see how much it is but I'm debating on it. I'd like to buy one mostly cause I don't want to wait for it to give me issues to replace it and looking at the water pump it looks like there were clumps built up on the lower rad hose spout. I don't think its that drastic of an issue, but I did replace my heater core about a month ago and the heater core did have a slight blockage not sure what from but again still debating.

Something I was suggested with my cylinders exposed like this was to put some oil on the cylinders walls after I cleaned out the coolant and loose particles and wrap the top of the block with saran wrap to try avoid rusting.

 

[ctwalton15]

Alrighty. Here we go. I’ve finally got my truck completed, ish. I’ve got everything back together motor is 100% put back together running and driving. I was able to start it last night didn’t drive it though as I still had to bleed the brakes but it was late.

Parts list: heads have been cleaned, decked, valve seats pinned, needed 1 valve, and some exhaust inserts. New camshaft and lifters, new chain tensioner, new phaser, new head bolts and gaskets, new water pump and thermostat, new valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, mds plugs is what I can think of at the moment.

A couple things to add. I was unfortunately unable to install the new oil pump that being said I couldn’t install the new timing chain I had neither at this current point in time. I couldn’t remove the oil pump. What the plan was to pull the oil pan to remove the old pump and replace it with the “hellcat” higher volume oil pump I got through MMX, as well as a brand new chain and crank sprocket. The reason behind that was I was able to unbolt the oil pan, except for the last bolt that the front differential was completely in the way. Which I already knew and didn’t have an issue dropping the front differential. The problem I ran into was the top 2 bolts that hold the front diff in. I did not have a tool in my garage that I could get anything on there to remove the bolts with. No room for a wrench, no room for a swivel with or without a a bunch of extensions. Just simply no room. So in my frustrations, which I need to do anyways according to others online is unbolt the motor mounts which I did in fact do and was able to raise the engine as far as it would let me but just not far enough for me to either get the last bolt and or access the top 2 bolts for the front differential. Just a total **** show in my opinion. At this point the somewhat frustration just made me come to the conclusion that I maybe I need to try unbolting the oil pump where it bolts to the block and I did so and with some persuasion with a pry bar. I was able to start loosening the pickup tube from the oil pump. But at this point there was a ton of tension on the pickup tube from this and I was afraid of loosening anymore because I didn’t want to be in a position where I have the old pump off and cannot just get the bolt lined up, from the bottom may I add and be forced to be stuck with my truck that I still need to pay for down even longer because of a oil pump that isn’t even faulty or problematic I will also add. At this moment I realized what would’ve most likely happen if I continued down this path and risk the chance of more down time especially with the weather right around the corner. It might’ve not just been worth it at this current point in time. I might end up just waiting till summer since really I won’t need to pull the heads just the accessories, water pump and timing cover and possibly come up with a different strategy. I just wanted to somewhat fully expression the issues that I ran into and share my input.

Everything did somewhat go smooth took me a minute to figure out which bolts went where regarding the timing cover and water pump. I separated the bolts for both of them but took a little bit of switching around to get the correct ones in the right holes. No biggie. I was able to get it started with no issues. It’s getting up to temp and drive it around a little off and on for about 30 minutes driving/idling making sure it won’t over heat.

One issue I do have is a little leaky faucet oil leak which appears to be from the valve cover and it drips on the exhaust manifold where it bolts to the collector. I’m almost convinced it’s the back side of the valve cover because it is higher then head. I will mention I did snap the bolt off the back of the valve cover right above the leak due to me being anxious and seeing it leak (it was leaking before I snapped the bolt) but I really couldn’t feel how much I was tightening it and I just ended up snapping it. I hope it is just something as simple as the valve cover and maybe I didn’t seat the new gasket in 100% or maybe it came out of the groove putting it back in that side. Gosh I hope so. I guess it’s not so terrible that it is above the head and I can physically see a leak so there is somewhat of an upside. So I guess I have a little project this weekend or sooner if dodge has these bolts in stock. Wish me luck.

If you look in pictures 8-10 you can see where it’s somewhat running down from the valve cover gasket area. Can’t answer for certain if it’s from this side or behind the cover. I need to get a mirror and look.

Feel free to leave comments or question. I will answer as best as I can.

 

[tscarber]

Hp tuners and Flyin' Ryan.

Don't buy a cam kits from places that dont do custom tunes.

Learn my lesson on this one. Texas Speed kit is great but had bug after bug and got an amateur tuner to do it and still have some slight problems i am working out.

 

[Sillygoose]

I'm chasing a similar drippy oil leak. Thought it was from the mds delete plugs loosening up after a year, so I took the intake manifold off. Sure enough a couple were loose and oil was pooled up in the grooves around there. I took out the plugs, rtv'd the gaskets, loctited and tightened the bolts. After that I'm still getting a drip leak from about the same spot that burns off on the header. Looks like the back of the valve cover. Will try a new gasket. At least the wet area that the leaking mds plugs was causing dried up.

 

[ctwalton15]

I'm chasing a similar drippy oil leak. Thought it was from the mds delete plugs loosening up after a year, so I took the intake manifold off. Sure enough a couple were loose and oil was pooled up in the grooves around there. I took out the plugs, rtv'd the gaskets, loctited and tightened the bolts. After that I'm still getting a drip leak from about the same spot that burns off on the header. Looks like the back of the valve cover. Will try a new gasket. At least the wet area that the leaking mds plugs was causing dried up.

I couldn’t ever get the mds plugs to seat on there own. I had to take like a 10 mm socket and hammer them in to sit flush in the groove for where the solenoids sit. I took the valve cover back off and put a new gasket on. So far it’s slowed the leak by a lot. I still do have a tiny tiny tiny leak. I didn’t manage to snap the rear bolt off when I found the leak the first time around. Tried tightening it to see if I left it loose or didn’t tighten enough and couldn’t even feel how tight it was and just snapped.

I don’t have the intake gallery pad in my engine any more. It was broken in a bunch of pieces so left it out. I might check it in a few hundred miles to see if they popped out or not.

 

[Dave Haddon]

You are a warrior I will give you that. After reading all your work and peaks and valleys if i ever have this issue i will have someone replace the engine or buy a new vehicle..geez what a job..good on ya!

 

[Sillygoose]

I don’t have the intake gallery pad in my engine any more. It was broken in a bunch of pieces so left it out. I might check it in a few hundred miles to see if they popped out or not.

Without the pad in there you can see one of them with a flashlight. I might pick up a cheap borescope just so I don't have to take the intake off again to check them

 

[ctwalton15]

You are a warrior I will give you that. After reading all your work and peaks and valleys if i ever have this issue i will have someone replace the engine or buy a new vehicle..geez what a job..good on ya!

Thank you. I will say it does look very very daunting but after having everything apart and putting it back together. Its actually not that bad of a job, just time consuming. Thing that helped me was I bought a bunch of ziplock sandwich bags and some gallon bags. I labeled all of the nuts and bolts to make sure I knew where they went as well as the pushrods. The connectors on the harness were pretty easy to figure out I didn't label them because I maybe had to unplug 4 or 5 connectors for the passenger front side of the engine, like coolant temp sensor, oil temp sensor, I believe oil pressure sensor and 1 or 2 more.

All in all, not a bad job. I would do a bunch of research, I've been doing it for the past year and almost half. First misfire started Last May. 133k. Truck now sits at 156k fixed. Posting this also makes 1 week since I first started it again and still no issues. Other then a much much smaller valve cover leak which I'll probably need to fix when it gets warmer. Holding coolant, holding oil, no codes. I will do an oil change in >500 miles or sooner to make sure I don't have any head gasket issues.

 

[ctwalton15]

Without the pad in there you can see one of them with a flashlight. I might pick up a cheap borescope just so I don't have to take the intake off again to check them

I kind of figured I might be able to. Not a bad idea, I will most likely pick one up gives me a reason to buy one now and I'm sure it'll definitely help with diagnoses in the future.