Cam Installation Pointers (and beyond.....)??

Installing a better cam in a small bock chevy for the first time. Any pointers when installing cam and lifters. After installation of cam, how about installation for new timing chain and gears. What has to line up and how is best method to make sure ' all ' is lined up ?. After all that complete have torgue specs for new aluminum heads (shouldnt be a problem). How about torque specs and method of torquing bolts on aluminum Edelbock intake?
What else................... top dead center, tighten rocker nuts until push rods barely spin and give another 1/2 turn ?

Ok I take it you already know how to put the cam in with the assembly lube so I'll go from there. The timing gears go on one way and have a dot on each of them that you lign up, turn the crank so the dot on the bottom gear is straight up, now put the cam gear on the cam and turn it so the dot on the cam gear lign up with the crank gear, now take the cam gear off and put the chain on and lign the two dots and slip it on the cam, both dots should lign up, if not you will have to make adjustments accordingly!..As far as torquing the manifold just follow factory specs starting from the middle working out!...Adjusting rockers, use the E/O and I/C method, rotate till the exhaust just opens adjust intake, rotate till intake is almost closed adjust exhaust. For hydraulics, tighten nuts till no slack on pushrods and add 1/2 turn!..
Note: When installing the cam gear, if you don't have a retaining plate make sure you use Loctite on the bolts!....
When ready to fire, make sure timing is set properly and have adequate fuel available, the motor should fire at the touch of the button(you can wipe out a flat tappet cam with excessive cranking)and it needs to run at 2000 to 2500 for 20 minutes minimum. After break in dump the oil, cut open the filter it should be clean, a little dust maybe but no garbage. If everything looks good, put a new filter and a fresh batch of oil in and go hammer the shit out of it and have fun!.. :)

Thanks GoFastRacer!. Geez this sounds like having a little ' action '........ , other than lubing cam and lifters up a little, any other watch out tricks when placing cam in motor (just be careful??) ? Can I just stick it in ? What is best method to get timing close prior to firing motor. Note, this is not a hydraulic set up. Little beefier Comp cam, aluminum heads with harden shape rockers, and MSD ignition.
Other: While thoroughly inspecting piston chambers, four of the chambers (2 at rear, 2 at center) have some minor ring wear on side of piston wall, barely can feel with finger nail. Should this be a serious issue or is there some normalcy with this ?

is 20 minutes the normal break in time for all cams? My neighbhors are going to be pist if i let the boat run for 20 minutes at 2000 rpm.

Just an observation here .. I'm NOT baggin on anybody that wants to learn how to work on motors, it's a very rewarding expierience. BUT,it probably would not hurt to read up on a few things in a good hi-performance book the many small things that are easily over looked there are many. Prior to fire-up, some guys like to prelube the motor prior to start up . others like me also let the lifters sit in oil submerged for awhile prior to installing them in there perspective bores. I also instead of just popping on the valve cover and intake use that exposed valve train time to dump a qt of my favorite brand X oil over the rockers valves and even let the oil dribble down the pushrods. also prior to installing the manifold I like to dump a qt of oil on the cam and lifters, keeping track of the amount of oil by not throwing out the empty bottles. Barron the "lip" on the upper bores is very common and is a sign of wear. with this in mind, I'm hoping you did a compression check or leakdown test to see if the rings are in good condition prior to installing new heads. heads and rings typically wear about the same rate. valve guides get a little sloppy and allow the valves to lose their excentric position in relation to the valve seat. which allows the valve to ever so slightly leak. this being said. if the rings have somewhat run their course and are loosing sealing capacity new tight heads will cause a small (or large) amounts of oil past the rings into the combustion chamber burning and creating excessive smoke. which in turn loads up the exhaust valve full of carbon restricting the flow rather rapidly as compared to a fresh motor. I'm by NO means saying this will absolutley happen but there is a very good chance if the rings are weak. Shuan yes 15 to 20 minutes at above said engine speeds is considered very important to some ppl . there are a few tricks to not pissing the neighbors off. the hardest is to create a diversion.. this involves spreading rumors, talking behind there backs and last but not least starting the lawn mower first and letting it rip WOT closest to the most offended neighbors ( you probably know who they are). If you can,doing it before midnight is also a nice gesture .. but I never seem to make that deadline so.. I buy alot of beer. (for them) no not me. I would highly recomend recruiting whomever you guys know that has lit off a fresh engine before. an extra couple of eyes ears hands never hurts. Good luck on this for it is a very rewarding expirience to some as I will state again. take your time , plan, make a list if you feel it might help but make sure you get it right to the best of your ability the first time and the rewards will be much greater. but to be honest .. even the best do make small errors. it's natural in all the excitemnet. last but not least. no matter what, if something is going very wrong do not be affraid of the "wiped cam gremlins" shut the motor down. I have had more then a few things rear their ugly heads and had to do this without ever suffering the concequences of a "wiped cam" .. (I hate that expression). one last thing. regardless of what ppl say about this, I have always used it with good luck . save room for a qt of "RISLONE", it comes in a yellow bottle like oil does (in the snake oil part of the parts store) IMO this stuff is miraculous for break-ins....OK, the rest of you can yell all you want ... just don't throw things at me please. R.B.

Originally posted by Shaun
is 20 minutes the normal break in time for all cams? My neighbhors are going to be pist if i let the boat run for 20 minutes at 2000 rpm.
Yes 20 minutes at 2000 minimum varying rpm!..

Originally posted by baddassbaron
Thanks GoFastRacer!. Geez this sounds like having a little ' action '........ , other than lubing cam and lifters up a little, any other watch out tricks when placing cam in motor (just be careful??) ? Can I just stick it in ? What is best method to get timing close prior to firing motor. Note, this is not a hydraulic set up. Little beefier Comp cam, aluminum heads with harden shape rockers, and MSD ignition.
Other: While thoroughly inspecting piston chambers, four of the chambers (2 at rear, 2 at center) have some minor ring wear on side of piston wall, barely can feel with finger nail. Should this be a serious issue or is there some normalcy with this ?
Make sure all lobes have plenty of lube, be careful not to nick the bearings(use a long bolt on the end of the cam for a handle)as you put it in, a little oil on the lifter sides is adequate!. In your other post you mentioned "add a 1/2 turn" so I took it as a hydraulic cam, if it is a solid then you will do the same procedure except you will have to set the lash according to the timing tag that comes with the cam!..To set the timing for initial start up, with the spark plugs out, put your thumb on the number one spark plug hole and rotate the motor until you feel compression, then keep rotating to 0 degrees(if you know how much lead you have in the distributor you can set it at that point) set the distributor at number one and it will start, then you can set the timing where you want after it starts!....I'm not sure what you mean about the ring wear but if a compression check shows those cylinders the same as the others, I wouldn't worry about it at this time!...