Cam change in a 66 Bonneville
 

Contemplating an engine-in-the-car cam change for my 66 Bonneville. I can see that the condenser will have to come out, but beyond that, how much of the front end will have to be removed? Will I be able to get the condenser out by pulling it back toward the engine compartment, or do I need to remove the grilles and take it out the front? Thanks for any advice you can pass along.

Ken

Ken, do you mean condenser or radiator?

Sorry for the ambiguity. Certainly the radiator will come out, but after that the condenser is the next thing in the way - so it seems. Just not sure if I can remove the condenser in the same direction as the radiator or if I need to somehow take it out the front...

If you wish to leave engine in the car, the condenser has to come out no matter what..so I'd just jump in and see what happens. I'm betting it will come out on engine side of the core support, after radiator is out of the way. The refrigerant hard lines coming off the condenser may give you some grief.

I have never found an easy way to get the condenser out on the parts cars etc. I have taken apart. I personally think that so much has to be removed to get it out that it is easier to raise the engine out of the car than it is to go through all that.

Maybe someone else here has figured out a way to do it, but if the grills have to be removed to get it out, then it is easier and quicker to pull the motor part way or all the way than to do that IMO. IIRC there are bolts that you just can not get to and the fittings are nearly impossible to wrench on to get the lines off.

Front sheetmetal does not come off, you may be able to drop the condenser down a little and clear the cam. IS your ac charged? if not no biggie. just pull it. if it is just try to loosen it up and move it enough out of the way to install the cam.

Put a 6 inch bolt in the cam to aid install past the first two cam bearings to help steer the cam into place

Here are 2 Pics. The quality stinks, but you can see that the cam sticks way into the front grill. I am not sure how you would get it in there to get the straight-on insert needed. In Pic 1 the cam is lined up with the front of the block where you would need to insert.

If you remove the bumper as in Pic 2 you might be able to get the condenser out if you can get the lines disconnected. Then MAYBE you could angle the cam up through there. I have never done it with the engine in an A/C car, so I am not an expert, but I have had these all apart etc. and I really think you could be making a lot of extra work trying it.

I'd love to be proven wrong, so please keep us posted on how it goes.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps8bcbc51a.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...psac553ecf.jpg

Thanks so much. I've had this entire car apart and now that it is more or less in one piece, I am loathe to take it apart again. As the pictures show, getting the cam out without removing the engine is non-trivial. That being said, I just stuck the engine in recently, and I found that getting the engine properly situated when the trans already in the car can be painful.

The service manual implies that one can remove the condenser without removing the grilles (btw, the AC is not sealed, so no issues there). Further, the camshaft R&R directions in the manual also imply that it can be done in the car w/o removing the grilles. Hard to believe looking at that picture. This car is just too darn short!

Bumper removal is not too painful, hopefully that will do the trick. Lord knows, we have all done stuff that is crazy to avoid doing the jobs we loathe.

Otherwise, I think Santa needs to deliver an engine crane and a manifold/carb lift plate.

Loosen up the trans mount screws and remove the motor mount screws, affix the plate to the intake where the carb mounts and you should be GTG.

cam pulling in the car ...
 

Son of a pup!

Would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two peepers.

BOB

65PP, my wife would kick my rear up around my ears if I did auto repair in my nice clothes!

Thanks much for taking the time to contribute those pictures. Looks like you moved the horns, but not the horn support. Wow, there looks to be just enough room and no more. The shop manual says to remove the hood latch mechanism as well. In looking at mine yesterday, it does appear to be in the way, too.

Just to close the loop on this question: I've R&Rd the cam in this car without moving the engine. As far as front-end bits, I had to remove the radiator and condenser, but that's it. The condenser is a bit of a pain to get out since you need to remove it from the core support then remove the bracket on one side to get it back thru the hole. The horn support & hood latch didn't interfere. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I just got too involved in the process to provide that kind of documentation.

Thanks again.