Removing the old fabric and foam is the easy part. Getting it out of the car. Meh. It's not hard, but it's time consuming. Taking off all of the interior trim and everything on the ceiling, and then you have to work it out of the trunk. It's not bad, but just take your time so you avoid creasing the headliner as little as possible. We only made one crease in it, which I was very proud of, but you don't see it once it goes back in, so it's not a big deal anyways.

Yup. Tech said it. They're more aggressive. Especially when you have a heavily modified engine, the overlap (which is absent in the T5 cams, but normal of the NA cams) can benefit the motor. From reading some of the first before/afters of the NA cam swap on VS, if you advance the cams a couple degrees, it will give you a more even power band. This is coming form someone who put NA cams on their motor paired with a GT35. They said there was no waiting for boost anymore because they had the low end power, which is what I'm looking for since I'll be running the 19T.

Awesome. I'll let you know when the time comes. The cams I got (as you can see) still have the sprockets attached, so I'm not going to mess with them. Once the valve cover is off, I'm going to send it in to get PC gloss black to math the intake. So when that comes back, the cams will be going in and etc.

From what I understand, I just want to make sure the crank is at TDC before I remove the valve cover.

 

Make sure all the marks are lined up like they should be. If the belt has already been removed and marks not lined up you can still get them to all line up. But you have to be very careful doing it but it can easily be done.

I have done atleast 50 850 or 960 heads without using the cam lock tool.

Lately we are averaging about 1 head every 2 weeks.

 

I have a timing belt kit coming from FCP that should be here this week, so I'm going to put on the timing belt and line it up with that to avoid damage. I look forward to some help though, a lot of people are telling me not to do it and what not if I've never done it before. I don't get why, I think the best way to learn how to do it, is just to do it.

 

Agreed!!!
Oh BTW your post on VS might slow down for a little while. It seems after I post there the post dies. But we will wait and see.

 

Haha. That build thread over there is always slow. I think once I start doing more of the performance mods it will pick up.

 

when changing a timing belt (something i will be doing soon enough) do you really need the cam lock tool?

 

nope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, in order for the cams to move, you really have to put some force on them. People tell you need to have that because that's how you should do it by the books, but in reality, you don't need them. My dad's never used a cam locking tool on our timing belts.

 

Couple more things pending:

White injectors
MSD Blaster Ignition coil


When the owner gets it off of his car:

IPD short ram intake.

 

do you know if it kinda easy to do it?
yes ipd short ram!!! i got one, looks good + sounds good!

 

Easy to do a timing belt change? I don't think it's hard, it's pretty straight forward, the biggest thing is that you have limited room to work with and compressing the tensioner can be a pita sometime.


Yeah, I'll see how I like the intake, I was going to make my own cold air intake but I'm getting this ipd intake for really cheap, so I figured I'd get it and give it a go.

 

I made my own, in the end it cost me about $40. I have one more section to complete (which you can see).

 

that's pretty legit. I'm gonna see how the IPD one works, and if I don't like it, I'll make a cold air intake where everything is enclosed so there is "less" heat soak.

 

Some people have been relocating their battery then ducting out the front, thats always an option if you are going sealed. You will need a really good flow though.

 

there's a few write ups on VS on how to do a sealed intake. If I move my battery, I will most likely turn it 90* compared to where it is now. That will free up a lot of room, also give me a bit more space to run intercooler piping I think for the front mount.

 

 

sweet!

 

Where are you going to mount it? I don't have very many good ideas . Hmm. perhaps you can find a way to put it in the glove box!

 

My plan is to make the 2nd din pocket into a mount, so it will sit flush in that. That's what I'm hoping to do.

 

That would look good. I'm guessing you already have an aftermarket radio head unit then?