PI Cam Swap Problems; Please Help

So I finally got around to swapping in some PI cams in my 98 gt. Started on the passenger side, got frustrated a few times, then finally got it in; no big deal. Moved on to the drivers side, and after some persuasion, got the old cam out. Began putting the new one in, and ran into a problem that I wasn't quite prepared for. I can't seem to be able to move the cam sprocket far enough towards the front of the motor to allow it to go onto the camshaft. There are two little metal pieces, one on the top and one on the bottom, of the timing cover that just aren't allowing the sprocket to slide forward enough. Here's a pic of what I'm talking about.



When I move the sprocket as far to the front as I can, and then sit the camshaft down into position, the end of the camshaft begins to bind on the sprocket. And I obviously can't get the sprocket onto the cam if they are binding before the cam is even into place.

I'm thinking about taking the timing cover off, or at least enough to allow the sprocket to move on out a little. I really don't want to do that though, as it would add on a nice little chunk of time to my project that I really don't want to add on. Is there something I'm missing here? Or some little trick to getting this thing on that I'm not aware of? I've read through every write up possible, but every one of them says the same thing: just take the old cam out and slide the new cam in. That isn't working quite so well for me right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Will

Well, I finally got them in this afternoon. I need to send out a big thanks to anyone on Stangnet that wrote a write up for the pi cam swap. I read every one of them at least 10 times; I don't remember who all y'all were, but thanks a bunch. I also need to thank my brother for helping me with the RH cam and my dad for helping with the LH cam. I woulda never got it done w/o them.

Fired her up about 9:00 tonight. Cranked right up, no leaks, no noises, sounds good. I drove it easy for a while. Got on it a few times right before I came back home. Man, what a difference. Lot's more torque all across the band, and a plenty more hp up top as well. I think I'm gonna go ahead and either get a SCT programmer for it, or get it dyno tuned. I'm sure it's running lean and I really need to get the transmission to shift a little better.

I'm heading to the track Thursday night; I'll get some numbers up. It will actually be the first time I've run the 1/4, so I'm looking forward to it.

-Will

Hmmmm....Does the car still run smoothly? Cuz I'm having this loss of power problem also, although not quite that much. I'm about .15s and 1 mph slower in the 1/8 after the cam swap. But my car still runs as smooth as ever. So idk.

-Will

scupking said:

Nothing against the PI swap but if your doing cams why not just go with something that would give you even more power like the Hi Tech Stage IIs?

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Price. I paid less than $50 for my PI cams. I'd probably have to pay $500+ for a set like that. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to put in a set of Hitech Stage II's, but I don't have the money to do it. Or at least not yet.... Maybe one day.

-Will

I meant to ask earlier, but I forgot. Is there any way to know if the camshaft timing is correct without having to take everything (including the front cover) back apart? I think I've heard someone mention something about a compression test, but I don't really know exactly what they're talking about. Can someone fill me in? Or point me in another direction? I'm beginning to worry my timing may be off, and I don't want to get a tune if that is the case.

-Will

Anyone?

-Will