Road trip after cam/tune

[Falfan]

Hi all
I'm lined up to get a cam/tune from the folks at GPI in a few months , it's around a 6hr trip , what's the consensus on driving it home ? Yeah or neigh? I know it was frowned upon back in my younger days .

Thanks in advance

[Ashen 6.2]

You should be fine. They will make sure you are good to go before you leave. I think Andrew Cammer @acammer drove 12ish hours home after doing his upgrade to the Max Package 2.0 on his car.

[Falfan]

Good to hear , in my mind it shouldn't hurt , but old habits run deep, was taught when breaking in a cam not to do any long highway trips , but that was old carborated small block chevy engines .

[Bigdumogre]

I drove 3 and half hours after mine. No problem at all

[Bo White]

I drove mine an hour and a half before the tune. Twice.

[acammer]

Originally Posted by Ashen 6.2

You should be fine. They will make sure you are good to go before you leave. I think Andrew Cammer @acammer drove 12ish hours home after doing his upgrade to the Max Package 2.0 on his car.

It was 1200 miles - more like 18hrs! But, you're correct, absolutely no worries, was drama free - and that was a brand new package's first time in the wild.

The old "you gotta break in a cam" stuff is just that - old. Flat tappet cams absolutely have some particulars about their break-in process that need to be closely followed to get the right hardening and wear surface, or they risk wiping the lobe off the camshaft. But - with a modern hydraulic roller there is both nothing to wear, and nothing to adjust.

You'll get varying thoughts on break in and first oil change, but I try to do 1 of 2 things. If the oil in the car is pretty clean and still decently fresh before the cam swap, I'll fire it up and get in a heat cycle or two, maybe even the dyno time, on the oil that was in there. Then, before the car is ready to go "back in service" I'll do a fresh filter and new oil. That's gonna get all the assembly lube out of the engine, along with any little little bits of new parts wearing in during that first 5-10 minutes after the first start.

If the oil is nasty already, I'll just go in with fresh oil and treat it like normal, give it a regular oil change interval. I like Driven LS30, the proof is in the results, and my motor looked excellent when we broke it down for the Max Package. They have a really good additive package in them that's formulated specifically for the needs of an LS motor with increased spring pressures, heat, rpm, etc.

I think Bo is a Mobil 1 junkie - and he's had some great success with that as well. In any case, keeping the oil clean and fresh is super important. I do 10k oil change intervals with Mobil 1 in our daily drivers, but for a cammed car that's more of a toy and see's a harder life, I go 3k or so. The point is, the change interval is just as important as the oil quality.

The car is going to see dyno time, and some street miles for tuning before we turn it back over to you, so it will be decently tested, and I would have no worries about a little road trip to follow.

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by acammer

It was 1200 miles - more like 18hrs! But, you're correct, absolutely no worries, was drama free - and that was a brand new package's first time in the wild.

Haha.. I had the "12" part right... lol

Roy

[acammer]

Originally Posted by Ashen 6.2

Haha.. I had the "12" part right... lol

Roy

That's pretty much how my memories works - it'll retain some key detail, but probably leave out some other ones!

Good looking out though - that road trip was a great shot in the arm for the confidence that our customers should have in our work. I can promise you they guys didn't do anything special with my car that we don't do with every customers car. It was more like the other way around - we were in a big rush (my fault) to get it turned around and back on the road, so if I could be successful, I have even great confidence in a customer have the same results.

[Falfan]

acammer,
Thanks , that's the news I was hoping for , I really want to drive her vs trailering home

[ss camaro-monte]

I will be doing 7 hours plus from Houston to GPI in March. Never would it cross my mind to worry. GPI will have it all ready to go. 3 hours is no biggie.

[Moto-Mojo]

I drove mine 18 miles and it blew a hole the size of Rosie O'Donnell out of the side of the block.

JUST KIDDING! I'm jealous I'm not doing it.

[Falfan]

Originally Posted by Moto-Mojo

I drove mine 18 miles and it blew a hole the size of Rosie O'Donnell out of the side of the block.

JUST KIDDING! I'm jealous I'm not doing it.

🤣😂🤣

[PhantomBlack]

I drove there and back to get my work done. I was more worried about the new Tru Trac and gears they put in the diff than the cam swap. But I tend to over think things. The drive home went great. They did have to tweak my tune a little remotely once I was home, but I don't regret taking the trip at all. Definitely worth the drive imo.

[pyroguy]

As I understand it, you're driving it after the install and tune, not after the install without a tune, right? Perhaps I don't know the "old school" no no's, but it seems like it would be the same thing as a new engine. Break it in as you would a new engine, then give her hell. Not too long after I had my cam installed, I drove my Camaro from St. Louis, MO to central Pennsylvania and back in just over a weekend. One of the best road trips I've ever done! I remember driving my car on the roads pre-cam and having the cam made it that much more fun. So far, knock on wood, the car is still running awesome almost 4 years later.