Cam gears for V6. Add power AND mpg

Passenger side. Flush up against the back. Going to review photos and see if drivers side is supposed to be the same.

 

Drivers side should set the same distance into the dowel pin. The pins are same length

 

OK, just saw something I should have caught a lot earlier. Here are the replacement cams. They were marked with white paint and a line pointing up to a sprocket. Yet they have indention's on both sides in the same place. Is the right sprocket marked with the white paint or should I have been using the sprocket where the indention's are? Please bear with me, trying everything I can to keep this on track.

 

The F is for front and the line is pointing towards the tooth you need to use. Ignore the dot- that is 0°

 

OK going to keep working on it.

 

Lol, you’re giving me anxiety. I’ve done 4 sets of these now. I’ll let you in on some of my dirty secrets. Not saying this is how it’s the way or how to do it, but here’s some of the shit I got away with. After I found out the tensioner bolt can back out I started putting lock tite on them. I’ve turned an engine backwards a minuscule amount. Like barley. I had that 24mm slip and had the cam flop over until it stopped. I flopped it back where it was. I’ve fought getting the gears to go back in and not shoving the pin back into the cam. All of the truck have been on the road for a few years without issues. I’m not a mechanic. The job is pretty intimidating the first time. Take a deep breath it’s going to be ok.

 

To @VoodooBlueATL, @mightytacoman, @Shadowhunter, @Scott B. @greenEFSI

Thanks so much for everyone’s continued help!!!!

Fought with these things for hours yesterday and decided to have a beer and call it a night. Wife must have said a prayer for me at church today as I got the passenger side seated correctly a few minutes ago (Pic 1). So pulled the driver’s side loose again (Pic 2) and you can see where the dowel extrudes from the plate. So I assume this plate is as far back as the cam gear can seat?

Video by @greenEFSI (link) appears to show the chain slightly away from the alignment tabs at 13:35 which differs from the passenger side. So now I have put the driver side cam back on and this is where it’s at (close up view in Pic 3 and overall view in Pic 4) same place as before.

Am I good to go?

Pic 1



Pic 2



Pic 3



Pic 4

 

I like pics 1,3,4. I think youre good.

 

Pic 2 had a piece of the wife's hair in it. Since removed.

 

I didn't even notice the hair- from the angle- the gear appears to be crooked in that photo.
Look if the gears are seated- your all set for reassembly just as long as the new keyway is being used and the the F is facing the radiator. Stop over thinking it.

 

Locktite the bolt that goes in there. I know of one that came loose and destroyed an engine.

 

Gear was pulled back to show the dowell. Keyways are good, F facing radiator and no more overthinking!

 

High temp loctite? Wondered if it would work with the oil coating stuff. Will certainly be torqued correctly (75 ft lbs) and chain tensioners (14 ft lbs).

 

Hopefully by the time I finish this it will help others!

 

I use 243. Haven’t had one back out. The cams spin into the other bolts so I think they would only get tighter as time goes on.

 

We had a cam sprocket bolt back out in my buddy's truck. We think the sprocket wasn't fully seated when he torqued the bolt down and once it did seat the bolt loosened.

 

Letting it idle for a while. Had a video but it won't download. No codes. Just heard to idle slow down a bit but sounds good. More later.

 

To @VoodooBlueATL, @mightytacoman, @Shadowhunter, @Scott B.

Well it is later and wanted to reach out and thank everyone for helping me with this install. Everything is running fine and after shorter trips around town for a week (VoodooBlueATL had me all paranoid that tensioner bolt was going to back out) I took a longer trip (280 miles) yesterday and had a visit with OTT and had the truck tuned. Initial impressions from just the cam gear change out were very positive with changes like others have noted in smoother shifting and certainly the higher torque in lower ranges. Only got a week driving it around to evaluate how it ran with just the cam gear change before I went for the tune and I do seem to be getting at least a bump in better MPGs. I have a trip over to North Carolina next week (600 miles) and will get some better thoughts on the mod. Did also notice that I am now able to use cruise control through the lesser hills without it launching into overdrive which will be great for longer trips. Not sure, but does the mod drop your RPMs at certain speeds where they were higher before (seems like it has to me)?

Tips
1. Organize everything coming out.


2. When you start removing the harness expect all kinds of small pieces of plastic and other debris to fall all over the valve covers. Cover the intake as soon as the plenum is removed and vacuum a number of times before you pull the valve covers.

Know it appears I took longer than necessary but here is the list of everything from when I started 19 Feb. Need to update my build thread.
- Cam gear installation
- Manifold spacer installed with new gasket for plenum
- Replaced PCV Valve
- Cleaned MAS
- Replaced air breather filter with UNI UP-107
- Cleaned cylinder head covers and installed new gaskets
- Changed spark plugs
- Replaced PVC valve Part #

$11 12204-31030

12204-31030
- Installed new gaskets for SAIS
- Rotated tires
- Replaced A&E air filter with spare (cleaned up spare with Dawn and put up)
- Installed new Icon shocks front and back
- Cleaned throttle body and replaced gasket
- Replace window switch bezel cover for front door driver side
- Installed Genesis dual battery system and moved relays and wiring
- Installed Headlight Services headlight harness with new OEM headlights and Phillips Racing Vision GT200 bulbs (H4)
- Adjusted headlights
- Tuning from Overland Taylor Tuning
- Changed transfer case oil
- Changed front and rear differential oils
- Greased upper control arms (Valvoline Palladium #2) and checked bearings
- Greased five U-joint zircs (five total fittings – three on main drive shaft and two on 4WD shaft)
- Alignment

Again, many, many, many thanks for putting up with my incessant and probably aggravating questions. Know this is not that deep a dive into working on our trucks but learned a few new things for sure.

Oh, and screw that 10mm bolt in the heater hose bracket all to hell! My knuckles are still skinned up. Also still missing a pair on needle nosed pliers. Sure they are still around somewhere!

 

Good deal and congratulations on the finished project!

Now you can let me know when you are ready for me to come back down to Brian's house so you can turn wrenches on my truck... you know, to offset the old days when I was turning wrenches on yours!!! Ha!

 

I bought the Koken grip sockets and a long reach Astro nano ratchet because of that God damn bolt.