Anyone performed a cam swap on a NNBS 5.3?

[jaredself]

I have a defective camshaft in my '07 5.3 and I've been researching my options. The stealership was quoting $2400 parts+labor so I called TSP (I have family close to Lubbock) they quoted me $1400 just in labor so I was looking at about the same price as the stealer but with a mild cam instead of factory. I have no doubt that it's a pain in the arse to perform the swap due to the fact the heads have to come off to access the lifters, but everything else looks and seems pretty straight forward. Has anyone personally done one? Where's a good place for manuals?

[hin532]

Is your truck equipped with AFM? If it is you will have to get a dod delete kit to have an aftermarket cam.

[jaredself]

It is. TSP offers a DOD delete kit including the LS2 valley cover, head gaskets, head bolts, an LS7 lifters plus a few other things.

[MrMobley]

Why are you going to have to pull your heads? Unless your defective cam has ruined your lifters you have no need to pull them.

[XLR8N]

A defective camshaft is pretty much going to kill a lifter, depending on the defectiveness. :aniteef:


Look here > http://ls1howto.com/index.php?article=23

This will give you an idea. They have a article on head swaps as well. You will have more room though so I would say it should be easier.

If you were not comfortable tackling it yourself you may be able to find a forum member local to help you.

[MrMobley]

Haha well we just swapped out a defective cam in my bud's 350 and the lifters were fine. But then the pair only had like 5k on them, so who knows.

[XLR8N]

Yeah it all depends on what happens. :dunno:

I would never just slide a new cam in when there was valve train failure. That's just me though.

[MrMobley]

Yea in all honesty that would be a horrible idea. I didn't change out the lifters in my 6.0, but I was rolling the dice.

[hin532]

the lifters have to be changed bc the afm lifters cannot handle the lift of the larger cam and the stock afm lifters most likely caused the cam failure in the first place.

OP, it seems like you allready have everything figured out the only other thing that you will need is a custome tune to disable the afm feature in the computer. If you havent done a cam swap before id let tsp do it especally with having to delete the afm sys but if you still wantto try and tackle yourself go on performancetrucks.net there are some guys that have done the swap themselves and may be able to help you out or do search on the forum.

[jaredself]

Thanks guys. hin532, you're exactly right. It is an issue that stems from the lifters and more than likely the AFM side of things. I guess AFM sounded like a good idea but I guarantee I will NEVER buy the first year model again. From the research I've done so far it looks pretty straight forward. It won't be coming anytime in the near future, but if I end up doing the swap myself I'll definately let everyone know how it goes...or doesn't go. Ha. Thanks again for the help and advice guys. Anymore is appreciated.

[1989K1500]

Why are you going to have to pull your heads? Unless your defective cam has ruined your lifters you have no need to pull them.

Its probably his lifters that are the problem, not the cam. Its fairly common on DOD trucks.