Im going to be putting in a new cam with a cloyes adjustable chain. Since there will no longer be dots to line up what is the best way to degree this? Is there a website or guide? The cam also has 4 degrees of advance.

 

there should always be dots on the gears. otherwise how on earth are you going to get the cam and crank in sync. the best thing to do it install it in the stock positon so the opti doesnt s**t a brick.

 

My Cloyes 9-3145 had the dots, no problem aligning them.

-Tony

 

I really hope you dont listen to this guy, that is FAR from the "best thing to do"

Degreeing a cam is a very important part of a motor build. If you dont do it right, you will lose power, and all the work you just did will be lost. The proper way to degree a cam is with a degree wheel and the associated tools that are required. If you dont have the tools, I suggest you find someone who does and pay them to do it for you. The tools themselves can run you around 300 bucks. So if you dont do this all the time, buying them dosent make much sense. But dont buy a 4 degree advanced cam and then install it straight up. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. What was the point in buying a cam that was suspose to be set at 4* in the first place then. There are guides in books and online on how to do it, but it is not a simple thing, and the tools arent exaclty simple either. My personal suggestion is to find someone with the stuff to do it for you. Unless you have 300 bucks burning a hole in your pocket But definelty do it right or you will not realize the full potential of the cam you purchased.

 

You need to do some searching on here. LT1 cams are meant to be installed straight up. If you dont it WILL cause problems.

 

Since you can't really advance or retard a cam in an LT1 without other complications (opti), degreeing a cam is really only useful for verifying the cam is properly ground. I think most LT1 cams have some advance ground in and just about everyone installs them without degreeing them.

 

This is what I was afraid of. Some swear you have to and others say dont worry about it. Can someone tell me if there are 4* of advance ground in to the cam and you dont degree the cam how do compensate for that? The spark advance tables?

Also shoebox, so your saying once you line the dots up you essensially degree the cam anyway?

 

If you line the dots up, you are degreeing it to 0°

 

Mine is degreed at 6* and has been for 2 years. With the bushing in the dowel hole you can degree it any way you want. I stand by what I posted, you need to degree it and you will lose power if you do not degree a cam to what it should be degreed in at per the cam card.

Q

 

Most LT1 cams are designed to be installed "straight up" and often have advance ground into them, typically 4 degrees. It may still be worthwhile to "degree" the cam in the sense of verifying the cam position with the dots "lined up". What to do if it's off is a little beyond what I have time to post about now though. Keep in mind that a degree or two is hard to measure and won't make any appreciable difference if you decide to check it. If it's off by 3-4 degrees or more than there is a problem worth investgating.

If you have installed an adjustable timing set or use eccentric bushings you may want to install the cam at some other position than straight up. In this case, the injector timing will be off, which is of no consequence. However, the timing will need to be adjusted to compensate for the amount of advance/retard that you have degreed into the cam install. IOW, if you advance the cam 4 degrees you will need to adjust (retard) the timing by 4 degrees to compensate or you will be running 4 more degrees of timing than the PCM is commanding.

Example: the cam I am using this year is spec'd out to be installed with a 105 degree intake center line. It is ground on a 109 degree ICL, so it had to be installed 4 degrees advanced. To do this, I installed an adjustable timing set and "degreed in the cam" at the desired 105 degrees. I offset the timing tables in the PCM 4 degrees retarded to compensate.

However, I don't see why you would bother with an adjustabvle timing set unless you were going to be installing the cam other than straight up, or if you had some other problem (like a cam grinding error ) to compensate for.

Rich Krause

 

Thank you Rich for explaining what I was unable to

 

Thanks Rich for explanation (one you have made before), and
your patience regarding this topic. I have read many of these
posts because I am interested as well. I have a Crane 227 that
will be installed at the end of the month. This cam has 5* advance
ground in and I will degreee it, but only for informational reasons.
I have a degree wheel and the other necessary tools.

The question I have is what to do if it comes in more than +- 2*
from spec? I would imagine this would be a result of the cam
being ground off spec, but do not know where to draw the line
and take corrective action. Thanks in advance.

 

All this talk about degreeing a cam is making me question whether I installed my cam correctly. When I entered the specs of the XE224/230:110LSA in the DCR calculator it comes up with and ICL 4 degrees retard of that on the cam spec card I got with my cam from Comp. I knew the cam woudl have 4 degrees ground into it as apparently ALL LT1 cams do so I installed it straight up as instructed for computer controlled hydro-rollers. Did I do something wrong here? Correcting the spark advance isnt a big deal but it seems like the valve timing would be considerably messed up.

 

You are welcome.

My own measurement error is 1-2 degrees so I certainly wouldn't sweat it until it exceeed two degrees. And I am not really sure how precisely most cams are ground, though I suspect the tolerance is pretty close. But an error is always possible. If I found that the cam were off >2 degrees I'd probably return it and have the manufacturer check it and correct it if needed.

Rich

 

You installed it correctly. Well the best you could without degreeing it.....