At last it has came to this....Cam Install

[vroomapunk]

Originally Posted by 1Camaro2SS

The pistons on the L99 do not have valve reliefs for the intake valve, just for the exhaust.

Thanks for the education!

Originally Posted by 1Camaro2SS

The PtoV clearance can get even worse when the engine is revved up to 6K RPM. It's important to convert a hydraulic lifter into a solid lifter when doing the measurements to ensure your measurement is valid.

I think the "how to work on gm LS engines" book I got explains how to convert one of my old lifters into a solid lifter to do this.

I have the lethal racing night fury cam, I know they have down all the homework, I just want to make sure I dont mess anything up lol. Lining up the timing marks, I should be good, just want to double check, as Ive seen this happen a couple of times on the forum.

[Rjgreen2]

Keep the oil pump off until after you time it so you can see the crankshaft marks.

[vroomapunk]

Originally Posted by Rjgreen2

Keep the oil pump off until after you time it so you can see the crankshaft marks.

Thank you man, It definitely sucks that it happened to you, but you can take pride in the fact that your thread will help a bunch of people. Especially me, lol.

[CGT]

I use an old lifter that i tack welded the plunger in, for checking purposes.

[Kelly@PCMofNC]

Oh no! Ryan I am so sorry to hear about this. Please let us know if we can help...the '545' cam will be totally worth it when everything is said and done.

[376LS3]

Originally Posted by 1Camaro2SS

Here's mine when I made the clay impressions. The reason there are 2 reliefs and they are offset this way is to allow the piston to be installed rotated 180 degrees. I imagine a relief on intake would also have an effect on performance as the cylinder is taking air mixture in.

Thats weird that yours has 1 relief and others have 2. The pistons with 2 reliefs still have the dot that points to the front of the engine. Ive never seen a 1 relief piston or I wouldnt have said anything. Good to know....

[1Camaro2SS]

I've seen pistons with 4 reliefs before. I think some jeeps have them.

[vroomapunk]

Originally Posted by 376LS3

Thats weird that yours has 1 relief and others have 2. The pistons with 2 reliefs still have the dot that points to the front of the engine. Ive never seen a 1 relief piston or I wouldnt have said anything. Good to know....

His has 2 reliefs, it's just hard to see in that picture. It's a stock L99 piston. Like they said, only 1 relief is used for the exhaust.

I wonder why it has the two reliefs so it can be rotated 180 degrees, yet it has the dot towards the front of the engine (so it can't be turned 180*).

[376LS3]

Originally Posted by 1Camaro2SS

I've seen pistons with 4 reliefs before. I think some jeeps have them.

Ive seen dual over head cam engines with 4 reliefs. Not sure of a Jeeps engine config as Ive never had one.

Originally Posted by vroomapunk

His has 2 reliefs, it's just hard to see in that picture. It's a stock L99 piston. Like they said, only 1 relief is used for the exhaust.

I wonder why it has the two reliefs so it can be rotated 180 degrees, yet it has the dot towards the front of the engine (so it can't be turned 180*).

Ya, good call. Missed that on the first pass!

[Bell040]

You might consider new ported heads.... since you will have them off, and you will be replacing valves anyways.

not cheap... but when you subtract what you will already be spending...

[Rjgreen2]

Yea, I have thought about that as well as forged pistons too but I don't know. A blower will be the last thing I add to this before I'm done.

[1Camaro2SS]

Here's another shot from another angle showing the exhaust valve clay impression

[vcyclenut]

Originally Posted by Rjgreen2

Yea, I have thought about that as well as forged pistons too but I don't know. A blower will be the last thing I add to this before I'm done.

if your gonna add a blower i would think the forged pistons would be a nice safety net over the stock ones

[Rjgreen2]

UPDATE** And lots and lots of pictures haha.

So I removed the driver side head earlier tonight, learned a lot doing it too. Found the number 7 exhaust valve bent pretty bad as well the number 1 exhaust valve. I removed all the valves and springs and checked out the head, nothing really that I can see that tells me I would need to get them resurfaced. As far as the pistons look, to me they actually look better in person than what the photos show, its actually not too deep either, I am still going to show the photos to shop and see what they think. The passenger side was what stops me from cranking it over all the way so I will tackle that tomorrow. So Like I said, here are the photos: