I was reading another post about removing the follower(rocker) without having to remove the cam. That was on a 2v motor. mine is a 3v. Can I just pop it out like the 2v motor or can i loosen the cam girdle bolts and try and get a little more clearance. My cam seems to be OK so I want to try and just put a new follower in. Does the cam have girdles or are all the bolts for the balance shaft?

 

I see Johnny is online. Did you see the 2 new posts for my valve issue?

 

Krewat, any help on the follower issue that I have posted?

 

2V and 3V are the same. There are cam caps on both engines. You can just pop a new roller follower in place just like you can on a 2V.
JL

 

would it be beneficial to loosen the caps or just pry the follower out? I was worried about nicking the cam.

 

The lash adjuster will collapse some, and if you'll make sure the camshaft lobe is on base circle, that should make easier to compress the valve enough to get the follower out.
JL

 

thanks, I'm going to give it a try tomorrow night. I just want to get as much info as I can before I start prying. One nice thing to see is that the previous owner that put on 222k in 2 1/4 years really took care of it. The engine is spotless inside.

 

Got the follower today and changed it out. I had to loosen the cam girdle bolts to get it out. I popped the follower off the valve stem but could get it no further. I can not see how it could come out that way, unless you take it off towards the valve. There did not seem to be enough clearance to get it past the casting for the spark plug if I tried it that way. I pried and pushed for two hours with no luck. When I loosened the cam girdles the valves pushed the cam up and they fell out. I placed the new follower back on and brought the cam back into place. That balance shaft is a real PITA to work around. I was going to toss new plugs in while I had it apart, but after reading the posts about plugs breaking off I decided to tackle that in the spring when I don't need the truck. Truck started and ran smooth, no ticking the old follower was flat spotted on one side, scratched around it but the cam looked fine. Hope it holds up. Thank you guys for all your input. It really helps us home mechanics in our daily struggles. Do you think I did the wrong thing by loosening the cam to get the follower in? It only raised a quarter of an inch at the most.

 

Sounds like you did fine to me. Whether the cam lobe was damaged enough by the flat follower to harm the surface heat treating will be seen over time. Just keep an eye on it.
JL

 

The heat treating would explain why the cam looked so good. It didn't have any scratches at all . The follower was flat, straight across the surface. It was not crooked in there while it was stuck so I guess it just acted like non roller lifter. I also could not get the adjuster out. I don't know if the cam shifted towards it when it raised off it's perch. The cam lobe was 90 degrees strait up when I tried it. The thing looked fine and had the follower pushed tight against the cam, as I tried and tried and tried to get it out so I figure it is OK. Didn't get to test drive the truck but it sounded good in the garage when I spiked the throttle.
I've been reading some other threads about how impressive the power is on these engines. Not knocking it, but it is not as impressive to me. I had a 97 3/4 ton chev with 454 and it didn't have the power that this does but it wasn't far off. I think that vortec motor put out around 250 hp. Am I missing something? I am very light on the pedal because I don't want to gulp gas.Is this motor a power house only when you smash it down? I've driven my buddies 05 cummins Dodge with only a chip. That thing would light up the duals if you smashed it down on dry pavement. That truck is impressive. I knew I wouldn't have that kind of torque but I really did expect it to be far above my old 454. There are no codes, so I guess it is running correctly. It does seem to be a little strong on the exhaust smell, but again no codes are thrown. Air filter is clean. any thoughts as to how to check power without strapping it to a dyno?

 

The 6.8L is a strong engine, much stronger than it "feels". To really wake them up-they need a retune of the PCM to allow power enrichment and to reduce/remove the torque reduction during shifts and clean up the poor shift schedule.
JL

 

Does any one make an air intake tube (I checked summit)? That crazy plastic tube between the filter box and throttle body is the most ridicules thing I've seen. Why didn't they just make a nice straight, smooth flowing tube? There has got to be a ton of turbulence in the stock tube. The only thing on the tube is the cam cover breather for the passenger side bank.

 

Not that I know of, and there's absolutely no gains to be had there. My truck had a K&N CAI kit on it, and I pulled it off and boxed it up-it was all noise and made no more power than the stock tube.
JL

 

Thanks, just saved me $300. I am looking more for MPG's. If I want to hot rod, I have cavalier I race on 1/2 mile paved nascar oval to get my jollies. Also have a '66 GMC 1/2 ton short/ wide 2wd with supercharged 350 (soon to be 470 HP 383) if I want to push my facial skin back. I generally run 5 mph over the speed limit and try to squeak out as many mpg's as possible. I keep my fun at the track. I was plenty stupid for many years in my younger days. Still like to scream an engine, just not on public roads. Kids,wife and age (49) will change your whole outlook.

 

Honestly, there absolutely NO more fuel economy to be found with any aftermarket parts, no matter how much they claim it. You can get a slight gain in mileage with a good tune, but it's not a big gain.
JL