It Keeps Getting Worse! Camshaft & Lifter Failure on the LT1!!

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:01]Small block Chevy coming apart. Okay, I got the heads off yesterday, broke a head bolt in the process. Uh you saw my epic fail with getting the harmonic balancer hub off. Um totally my fault. Um I'll make a short video on that as to what the actual mistake was cuz I don't know if I was clear on what exactly happened there.

[00:00:17]Uh but yeah, I got to strip this thing down. I don't know if I'm going to show you the all the ins and outs of stripping this thing down. I don't think it's necessary. But um yeah, so let's just do the let me recap.

[00:00:27]So here it is. Here's a Chevy 350. It's an LT1 engine.

[00:00:31]There's the broken head stud, head bolt rather, that would not come out.

[00:00:35]So I'm going to strip this thing down.

[00:00:37]I'm going to try to get that head bolt out myself, but it may have to go to a machine shop. I don't know.

[00:00:42]Um well, it's going to wind up going to a machine shop anyway cuz I had blown head gaskets. So all right, let's go ahead and let's start ripping this thing apart. I'm not going to show you every aspect of ripping it apart. What I'll do is I'll take all the bolts out ahead of time, stuff like that, and then show you each sequence. But that's how I plan on doing it.

[00:00:59]Now on this side of the block there's a oops, sorry. Knocked you over.

[00:01:03]Uh there's a block drain.

[00:01:04]On the other side they use a knock sensor.

[00:01:07]So it's a 9/16. I already cracked it free.

[00:01:11]Now most of the antifreeze was already out of this, but I'm sure there's probably still some in the block. And when I flip this thing over, I don't want to make a huge mess if I can at all avoid it.

[00:01:21]And let me tell you, these suckers are in there tight, too.

[00:01:32]Oh yeah, glad I did this.

[00:01:36]Cuz had I flipped this thing over and then coolant just came pouring out all over the floor, I would have not been happy.

[00:01:42]Better to get as much out now as you can.

[00:01:45]Cuz you're going to make a mess, just you know, how much of a mess do you really want to make?

[00:01:48]Me? Not much.

[00:01:53]I got to get new freeze out plugs and everything for this thing.

[00:01:55]Still got a little bit floating around in there. See it?

[00:01:59]All right, let me let that drain for a little bit and then we're going to go to the other side and take the knock sensor out.

[00:02:08]Like I said, on this side you have a knock sensor.

[00:02:13]I tell you, I bought this Vevor kit with sockets and ratchets and I tell you what, I'm I'm impressed with how good they are. I've really actually found had very good luck with Vevor stuff. I'm They don't They do not promote me. They do not sponsor me. Nothing like that.

[00:02:26]This is stuff that I purchased on my own.

[00:02:29]So, don't think that.

[00:02:31]Oh, nothing.

[00:02:33]Okay. Let's see.

[00:02:35]Let's tip the block a little bit.

[00:02:38]Nothing. Okay. All right, so that side was drained out.

[00:02:41]But, if you look, you can see how gnarly this looks.

[00:02:45]It's kind of pitted.

[00:02:47]So, this block is definitely going to have to get boiled out and I'm sure the freeze out plugs are probably gnarly on the inside, too.

[00:02:54]All right.

[00:02:56]Let me start getting some other stuff off and uh then we shall continue.

[00:03:02]All right, let's Whoops, let's knock the camera over.

[00:03:06]All right, let's take this oil filter off.

[00:03:13]All right.

[00:03:21]As you can see, I think you can see it.

[00:03:27]The oil was clean cuz I had changed the oil on it just before I had my mishap.

[00:03:39]So, in case you're wondering what did happen, was I was doing a hole shot burnout and I had this thing up around, I don't know, 6,500 RPM bouncing off the rev rev limiter.

[00:03:53]And uh I did this nice smoky burnout with this car with the Camaro.

[00:04:00]And uh when I got to the end of the road, I realized that the oil pressure was not good, and I could hear the motor making some noise. Engine making some noise. So, I was like, "Uh-oh, that's not good."

[00:04:14]So, of course me thinking that nothing really bad had happened.

[00:04:21]I was like, "Ah, I'll just change the oil. It'll be fine." Yeah, okay. So, yeah, I changed the oil. Obviously, it didn't fix anything. And I had put 1540 in it. And so, I think it called for 530. I don't even know. But, I mean, it was a very light like if you gave it gas, you could hear like a like a very light rap. So, at that point, I was like, I parked it. And I was like, "I don't want to ruin the engine cuz it's still savable at this point." So, I was like, "If I can save it, I'll save it." You know what I mean?

[00:04:43]Without getting as little machine work done as possible.

[00:04:46]So, all right. Just thought I'd fill you in.

[00:04:50]So, I took the bolts out of the front cover there, and I flipped it over, and this side was full of coolant.

[00:04:56]Poured all over the floor. I had to rush and get pig mats.

[00:04:59]You know why?

[00:05:01]It's where the freeze out uh where the uh knock sensor goes.

[00:05:04]It's built up with crud. Let me get a screwdriver in there. Hang on.

[00:05:08]Didn't even think about it.

[00:05:10]Yeah.

[00:05:14]Yeah, this block definitely has to get boiled out.

[00:05:17]So, 327. It's not a 327. It's a 350. It's a 57. I know that cuz it's an LT1 motor.

[00:05:24]All right, let me get the oil pan bolts off, and then we're going to start taking the rest of this apart.

[00:05:29]Before I can take the oil pan bolts off, I have to take the oil filter cooler assembly off.

[00:05:34]This is not going back on.

[00:05:39]Basically, they're just held in with a giant uh threaded sleeve.

[00:05:44]It's basically the same Like there's going to be a stub sticking out of here for a regular filter and this kind of goes in that in the place of that.

[00:05:55]So, oh no, it still has one in there.

[00:05:56]Okay, cool.

[00:05:58]So, I'm assuming there's something I have to modify there to make it work.

[00:06:07]It might be worth a couple of bucks to somebody. All right, let me pull all the pan bolts out. Um this way we can get the pan off and the cover off.

[00:06:16]All right, with all the bolts out.

[00:06:22]I love these pan reinforcements.

[00:06:25]They're nice because they make it so the pan itself usually doesn't warp unless somebody goes bananas on it.

[00:06:35]Making a pile over here.

[00:06:40]That came free pretty easy.

[00:06:46]>> [music] >> Uh, got to [clears throat] take the oil level sensor out. Didn't realize that.

[00:06:54]All right.

[00:06:55]I got my trusty Pittsburgh adjustable wrench.

[00:06:59]This thing has an oil level sensor on it.

[00:07:03]And it feels like it's hitting something.

[00:07:06]While you try to take it off, so.

[00:07:14]I think I could put a regular drain plug back in this hole because obviously I'm not going to use a level sensor on this thing. Somebody got me all up with silicone.

[00:07:22]>> [snorts] >> What are the chances that the pickup tube has got silicone stuck in it?

[00:07:34]None.

[00:07:35]Okay.

[00:07:37]Uh, yeah, there's a little metal in here.

[00:07:41]Not bad though.

[00:07:44]I don't know if you can see it glistening.

[00:07:47]Turn the light on.

[00:07:49]See it?

[00:07:52]Yeah, so okay. Hopefully the crank is okay.

[00:07:55]Guess I'll find out.

[00:07:58]All right, so pan off.

[00:08:01]Stick that to the side there.

[00:08:06]Get this oil pan gasket off.

[00:08:16]I'll tell you what, I remember going from the old multi-piece oil pan gaskets to these one-piece oil pan gaskets.

[00:08:24]What a big difference.

[00:08:28]Tell you what, these connecting rods look like look like they're pretty beefy.

[00:08:37]All right.

[00:08:43]Now, this thing has guide pins on it the front cover. I don't know if you can see that. Actually, I'm sorry.

[00:08:50]This front cover has guide pins on it.

[00:08:54]So, I got to be careful doing this cuz I don't want to break this cover. These things are expensive, these covers.

[00:09:01]And that's the last thing I want to do is break the darn thing.

[00:09:08]If I can avoid it.

[00:09:14]And they don't look terrible, so.

[00:09:19]This one's the one that's fighting me, I think.

[00:09:29]No, I can't get that in there.

[00:09:31]Uh let me see if I can get a smaller pry bar in there.

[00:09:46]>> Try to move the pressure downward a little bit.

[00:09:50]I mean, if I crack the ear, so be it. I kind of don't want to if I don't have to.

[00:10:09]>> [applause] >> I'm using the screwdriver as a wedge cuz it ramps up here to fit behind there.

[00:10:20]Make it slide up, and I'm not going bananas.

[00:10:36]There it goes.

[00:10:38]All right.

[00:10:39]Yeah, these things are incredibly expensive.

[00:10:42]So, last thing I want to do is break it.

[00:10:45]>> [snorts] >> Yeah, the timing chain's got some slop in it.

[00:10:50]Okay, so now we're going to pull out the I don't even know what this is piece is actually called, but it's it holds the retainers for the lower for the roller lifters.

[00:11:04]It keeps these retainers in place. These retainers keep the lifters from twisting.

[00:11:12]Actually, let me put this over here.

[00:11:17]Now, we're going to be reusing these lifters cuz they are unbelievably expensive, and this [snorts] thing was not tapping.

[00:11:29]And I mean, the lifters should all be fine. If I find that one is messed up, then we're going to be replacing lifters, but I don't think so. I think you're going to be all be all be fine.

[00:11:36]And since I'm putting a new cam in there, it doesn't matter what orientation they go in.

[00:11:40]You can't reuse flat tappets. You can reuse roller tappets on a new camshaft.

[00:11:51]Especially when you're doing a bargain basement build like I want this one to be.

[00:11:57]I'm going to knock out the freeze plugs and take a really good look.

[00:12:01]But I really should probably send it to a machine shop. I don't want to. I don't want to have the expense, but if I have to, I have to.

[00:12:09]Ooh, nope.

[00:12:11]Going to need new lifters. Got a bad one.

[00:12:15]Yeah.

[00:12:17]Got a bad lifter.

[00:12:22]Dang it.

[00:12:23]Well, this got more expensive.

[00:12:38]All right. Maybe I can get away with one lifter? I don't know. I'll talk to a couple people that I know.

[00:12:43]Also known as Snafu Performance, Rick.

[00:12:46]Rick Rich. Sorry. Sorry, Rich.

[00:12:49]Called him Rick by mistake.

[00:12:51]It's okay cuz Rick gets mad when I call him Rich by mistake.

[00:12:54]Anyway, um all right.

[00:12:57]Let's go ahead and let's pop the timing chain off.

[00:13:15]Tell you what, the engine damage in this thing is much worse than I anticipated.

[00:13:19]I'm kind of disappointed now.

[00:13:22]I really thought I would just be dealing with some mild um issues with the uh Oh, dang it. Don't tell me I got to get a puller on it.

[00:13:34]Might have to. That's All right. Now, there we go. Okay, got it.

[00:13:51]All right.

[00:13:53]>> [snorts] >> Surprised they only used a single um single roller chain on these things.

[00:14:05]And this is what actually drives the water pump. Comes through the timing cover to drive the back side of the water pump. So, there's no [snorts] belt for the water pump.

[00:14:14]All right.

[00:14:17]So, let me get some tools to get that off.

[00:14:21]Just pull cam plate out.

[00:14:29]Curious what that lobe looks like.

[00:14:33]Just to the side.

[00:14:48]And this is kind of an interesting doohickey here.

[00:14:53]It's not coming off of there. So, I don't know if that's pressed in or what, but I mean it had bolts holding it.

[00:15:00]Maybe I got to knock it out from the other side. I'll worry about that later.

[00:15:03]All right. Well, I'm not overly concerned about this thing anymore because it's definitely got to go to a machine shop.

[00:15:12]So, how do I get this out of here? Let's see.

[00:15:19]Oh, I got a distributor drive in there still. I'm not a distributor, oil pump drive. Let me get that out of there.

[00:15:26]That's up in the back. I guess you could see that, right?

[00:15:35]So, this is actually the oil pump drive.

[00:15:39]Takes the place of the distributor.

[00:15:43]There we go.

[00:15:45]Not worried about the cam bearings cuz we're going to have them replaced now cuz since I got to send this thing out.

[00:15:53]I was really hoping for a super budget build, but doesn't look like it's going to be that way. I would replace the cam bearings now anyway. I mean, I have a cam bearing installer, so if I make the decision not to send it to a machine shop, then I'll just put new bearings in.

[00:16:06]Woo!

[00:16:11]Look at that.

[00:16:13]Destroyed that one.

[00:16:15]Okay.

[00:16:17]That's wild cuz this thing actually did not tick.

[00:16:20]Nothing.

[00:16:22]No tick, no nothing. That is pretty wild.

[00:16:26]Okay.

[00:16:30]You know what?

[00:16:31]Unfortunately, I think this is going to end this video here. Get my gloves off.

[00:16:36]Cuz it's just going to get way too long.

[00:16:39]>> [sighs] >> Yeah. So, yeah, unexpected havoc.

[00:16:44]More unexpected havoc. Sorry about the glare.

[00:16:47]Uh but yeah, things happen. This is what happens when you got project cars and you do hot rods and stuff like that. And yeah, unfortunately, not what I wanted to see. Oh yeah, look at these cam bearings. I'd have to do them regardless.

[00:17:03]Yeah, I wouldn't I definitely would not keep those in there.

[00:17:09]Yeah.

[00:17:10]So, this motor was pretty well engine was pretty well worn out.

[00:17:15]Yeah. So, All right. Well, unfortunately, that ends this one.

[00:17:21]Hey, if you got something out of this, hit that like button. If you could, please subscribe. Tell your friends about my channel, too, if you could. I'd really appreciate it. All right, guys.

[00:17:27]Have a great day and keep wrenching.