97s10ondubs

Im trying to track down where my lost power is, i didnt degree my cam in b/c i thought we werent supposed to do it with our cars. Now im trying to see if im the only fool who didnt degree it in. B/c im not making the power i should, and i know its probably my fault the car doesnt do what its supposed to.

shoebox

I don't remember anyone ever saying you are not supposed to degree one. It's just a choice whether you do it or not. For an LT1, it is basically just an exercise to see if the cam is correctly ground.

kamba93lt1

Shoebox,

Have you ever heard that degreeing the cam with a opti will mess the computer up. Meaning, the PCM reads the crank position off of the opti in relation to the cam position. right? If I advance the cam say 4* what is that doing to the PCM. How can I fix my problem if one comes up.

Thanks

Ken

GetaZforgetGT

OK...now I'm interested.

I always thought that LT1 cams were commonly ground with a 4 deg. adv pre built in.
That was why everyone says to just install them straight up.

Please explain.

shoebox

Yes, that has been thoroughly discussed on this board. If you move the cam position, you have to change the timing in the computer to compensate.

shoebox

That is true.

Degreeing does not necessarily mean you automatically advance or retard the cam (unless that is your purpose for degreeing). Degreeing can be done merely for checking that the cam is manufactured correctly (as I stated in my first post).

If you want more or less advance, have the cam ground that way.

GetaZforgetGT

AHHH...now I understand.
First post didn't sink in until I read the second one.

kamba93lt1

But if I were to adv. the cam 4*. I now need to retard the ign. timing 4* or so degrees. Wouldn't that kinda of cross each other out??? Sorry if I am coming across a little dumb. The only way to get around this is to run a crank trigger or like system for the crank postion then.

Ken

SStrokerAce

Well sometimes the cam is correct and something else in the system is off. Mostly it's to make sure it's in the motor the correct way.

Bret

kamba93lt1

Yeah but we both know that sometimes is correct means NEVER. I am just trying to find out if it is a problem to advance the cam and have the PCM a little crazy. You know.

Ken

wb3s94z28

In the LT1's, can you use the degree bushings? I have never heard of anyone useing them, but if you don't know what it is.....

You drill out the cam pin hole in the cam gear and you can buy little bushings that have different degreed surfaces. You tap it into the bigger cam pin hole based on how far off ground your cam is or if you want to advance it.

I have used them in some small block applications, i haven't heard of anyone using them latley, i guess you could say it's old school. When i rebuilt my LT1 i put the LT4 HC, 1.6 RR, and spent a good 80hrs on my heads . The only thing, and don't make too much fun of me, is i don't have any aftermarket headers Engine blew and had just enough money to build it back up with some extras and since then the budget has been too low. It seems really underpowerd, i haven't got a tune on it but a Jet Stage 2 piggy back to keep it running smoothly. I think that i'm going to have to tune and put some headers on it

97s10ondubs

well how often are cams ground bad? I had my friend scan the car, while idling the knock count was 70 and when he tapped the gas, 2k rpms maybe, it went to 270 and at idle the knock retard was 4*. I didnt get a chance to see what it pulled up top, what is the max timing the pcm can pull? would this make the car feel like it has a serious loss of power? It feels like the car pulled just as hard if not harder b4 the h/c. I think im gonna take it to a dyno tommarow morning and get some numbers, im thinking 300 flat.

SStrokerAce

Well depends on the quality control of the cam grinder. Comp does a very good job of this. Only time they are ground bad is when the cam is entered into the system wrong.

Bret

SS MPSTR

Comp is better than others, but the occasionally mis-ground cam leaves their shop. Don't ask me how I know this. But you're right, the machine grinds the cam on the data or instructions entered by a human being and that's where most of the errors occur.

97s10ondubs

i doubt its that, its probably something i did to it. I need a list of everything you can do wrong in a h/c install that would make the car feel like it has 300rwhp instead of 400rwhp
Im gonna do some more searching and see, maybe ill start a thread about everything that you can do wrong in a h/c install and see if i can go through until i get it worked out.