Pontiac Cam

[Ross]

I know this is a Cadillac forum, but I also know Guru has been known

to be a 'test pilot', driving some kind of 2005 Pontiac thingie.

Anyway,

My wife's Suburban drank over $ 400 of regular gasoline last month

(7.4l 454). I started looking for an additional car to add to the fleet,

and came up with a 1994 pontiac grand am, 89,000 miles. The good

points are that the car is clean and has new tires, battery, brakes. The

bad news is that the cam is broken. I pulled off the oil pan, and took off

a couple of rod caps and found no scoaring on the crank. The previous

owner said she turned off the car and had it towed as soon as the oil

light came on. Looking at the crank, I believe her.

She's willing to part with the car for $ 400. GM Parts direct has the

cam for about $ 150, I think I can jobber it for about $ 70.

I've done some looking around, and broken cam's seem to be

pretty common for pontiac, espically the 3.1 series.

what do you think ?

At the very least, I could turn this car aroound for $ 2,500 investing

only about $ 500.

[Ranger]

Sounds like a helluva deal but where are you going to find someone to R & R a camshaft in a transverse mounted engine for $70?

[Ross]

I'll do it.

This is small-potatoes compared to:

Timeserting my northstar

rebuilding my 4t80e

rebuilding my 4t60e

and all of my non GM projects.

I think it's as easy as:

removing the valve covers and intake manifold

removing the lifters'

removing both 1/2 shafts and tilting the engine to

to gain access to the timing cover.

I may have to drop the drivetrain, but I'll try things prior to that.

[Terminus]

Sounds like a no-brainer to me! If everything works out, your wife has a decent, economical car for less than $700. If it doesnt work out, or if your wife doesnt want the car, you should be able to turn it for at least what you have in it, maybe more.

What's to think about?