How To: Cam Install on 2v (D to D)

[Luis@OrtizPerformance]

I have been getting customers getting cam swaps by me and I figured I should post some info up for those who want to do this on their own with just basic tools. Now, I do recommend getting cams degreed for optimum performance but 9 times out of 10, the customer wont care/know/or even want to pay extra to get them degreed so setting them straight up will still net you some great power but not ALL of the power.

With that said, here are some of the tools you will need to get this done.

Socket Wrench

18mm Socket (Crank Bolt & Cam Bolt)

13mm Socket (Timing Cover)

15mm Deep Socket (Timing Cover)

8mm Deep socket (Valve Covers)

10mm (Chain Tensioners)

I believe those are it but I will edit the list in case I remember something I left out.

Anyways, first, you will need to disconnect the coil packs and injectors. You dont have to but makes things so much easier to take the valve covers off. Inspect everything to make sure there are no metal shavings, cam followers (rockers) havent fallen off or anything unusual. Remove the crank pulley as well. If on a 5spd, you will have to place the transmission in 3rd or 4th gear so that the engine does not turn over. Use the crank pulley/Harmonic balancer puller that you can rent out at any auto parts store. Next, the timing cover has to come off. Remove the belt, water pump pulley, and unbolt the power steering pump. For the power steering pump, I would have some sort of support or hanging it upright so it wont leak any fluid but out of the way so you can get the rest of the bolts for the timing cover. There are 4 bolts under the car that connects the timing cover to the oil pan. Remove those too.

This is the perfect time to inspect your timing chain tensioners. For this one, the tensioner was collapsing under pressure. Notice the huge slack on the chain? You do not want this at all. Replace tensioner and chain if at all possible.

Remove the cams and remove the cam gears so that they can go into the new cams. This is also a perfect time to set the engine to TDC or Top Dead Center. Remove the spark plugs so that the pistons do not create any compression and is very easy to move by hand. The key will point around 10:30 and the crank sprockets have a line as well that will be at the 6 o'clock. Once that is done you can install the cams as close as possible to their points i.e passenger side close to 11 - 11:30 Driver side 12:30 - 1

Make sure that the outside dots of the cam gears are in line with the dots on the chains like on the picture above. This is how it will look like from the cam gear point of view.

Same for the other side. Make sure the chain is tight on the flat guide and all the slack on the side where the chain tensioner is at. The tensioner will remove all the slack and will keep things tight so it wont jump teeth. In order for the tensioners to go in, there is a little hole on the front. Get a pin or a small allen key to move the locking teeth to the side and it will let you compress the tensioner all the way down. Once its all the way down, insert the pin or allen key all the way in and it will lock it in place. Install tensioners and remove the pin/allen key. This is how its supposed to look like. (Dont mind the driver side rear bracket, customer only brought 3 brackets so I installed other brackets for picture purposes only until he brought me the other one)

Now that you got everything set up properly, turn the engine over by hand using the 18mm socket. Turn the crank about 4-5 times over to make sure that there are no piston to valve clearance issues. Once you turn it about 4-5 times, you will see the chain link that is painted and the dot on the cam gear. There should be 4 links in BETWEEN the painted link and the dot. If it doesnt you will have to start all over again until its right.

Now that you got it clocked in right, its time to put new gaskets on the timing cover and valve covers and install everything back.

After everything is installed, I still recommend turning the engine by hand several more times just to be safe. Then, bleed out the fuel rail from all the pressure and set off the fuel pump cut off switch (Located in the trunk, behind the carpet, located behind the driver side tail light) Just hit it gently and the button should pop up. The reason for this is because we are only trying to crank it but not fire up. This will oil everything up and you'll know it wont have any piston to valve clearance issues as well.

Once everything checks out, fire her up and enjoy the thump a thump a thumping.

These particular cams required for me to tune it. Once I tuned it, it idles like stock and it does not stall at all even with the A/C at full blast. Here I am test driving the vehicle to make sure everything runs great and it sure does

*Note*

Depending on the cams that you got for your car, you may have to get a tune for it not to stall on you and some cams require piston notching for piston to valve clearance.

[justinschmidt1]

Does that car have exhaust lol

[Luis@OrtizPerformance]

Does that car have exhaust lol

Lol, the exhaust is stock minus cats so its pretty quiet, however, the engine makes its own thump thump sound

[MMR]

Nice writeup :thumb:

[justinschmidt1]

Gotcha, what are the specs of those cams? Seem pretty radical?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[Luis@OrtizPerformance]

I can't really remember the specs but they are stage 2.5 Last Call Racing cams.