I decided to get the ’68 Camaro’s engine block down to a state in which I could complete the camshaft swap and build it back up using all of the EFI parts I had accumulated. These included the Holley Stealth Ram intake and plenum, fuel rails, fuel injectors, fuel regulator, BBK 58 mm throttle body, GM small body computer-controlled distributor, and MAP, IAT, TPS, and temperature sensors. The camshaft I chose was a retrofit hydraulic roller from Comp Cams with retro roller lifters, new pushrods, and full roller rockers in 1.6:1 ratio. I started with removal of the air cleaner and carburetor linkage, followed by the distributor. I regrettably removed the alternator and attendant brackets (I had just gotten them aligned correctly after many weeks of loosing belts during SCCA Solo II events). I removed the Edelbrock 1406 carb and Chevy cast iron intake as a unit, and was able to start working on getting the heads off. Of course this requires removal of the headers, and in fact on the driver’s side the headers need to be completely removed from the engine bay from underneath the car in order to remove the head, because of how close the steering gear box is to the engine. Once the heads were off the car I inspected them and the pistons to make sure I had only the one bent valvestem. I confirmed I had only one bent valvestem and took the head to Ted’s Machine Shop here in Honolulu. Craig had them fixed up in a few days; it would be awhile before they were re-united with the block.
The radiator had to come out of the Camaro in order to pull off the cam swap, and I had substantial corrosion of the sheet metal of both the core support and the passenger’s side inner fender, particularly around where the battery tray used to be, probably as a result of leaky battery at some point in the forty year history of the ‘68 Camaro. I had purchased replacements for both from Classic Industries and I decided to take them out in order to create some room to work, figuring I would replace these while I had the front end of the car apart. This necessitated not only removal of the radiator, but the hood, front wiring harness, passenger side headlight bucket, and horns. Separating the inner fender from the outer fender yielded a big surprize: my Camaro’s build sheet! Alas, it was too far gone to recover or even to read anything off of. Nonetheless, I saved what I could of it…
With the disassembly nearly complete, I turned my attention again to the engine. It was time to remove the water pump, which was an Chevrolet cast iron pump that I wouldn’t be re-using, because I was also going to install a serpentine belt front accessory drive from a TPI Camaro on the engine block after the cam swap. I borrowed a harmonic damper pulley from Craig at Ted’s Machine Shop when I picked up my repaired AFR head, and used it to remove the damper so I could take the old stamped-steel timing chain cover off the block. I had to loosen the bolts on the oil pan and tilt the front end of the pan down to remove the timing cover. This revealed the timing gears, which were the OEM style. Removal of the timing gear from the cam allowed the chain to come off; I put the gear back on the cam to aid in removal of the camshaft. The cam started out rather smoothly, but about a third of the way out it hung up and I couldn’t seem to get it moving again. Not wanting to force the issue, I took a break and leaned back. Then it dawned on me—I hadn’t removed the fuel pump, and the fuel pump plunger was catching the cam. A few bolts later and I had the fuel pump off and quickly thereafter the camshaft was out.