I just put my new 383 back together and I'm having problems with glowing headers and missing under load. See this post for the full story if you're interested:
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...hreadid=243543

I'm starting to wonder if I may have put the timing chain in 1 tooth off and the cam being retarded is causing the problems? I would like to verify if the timing chain is in correctly but I'm really trying to avoid pulling the timing cover and water pump.

I'm wondering if I were to pull the damper and hub off, if I would be able to see the dots on the timing chain through the opening in the timing cover? I'm sure I'll be able to see the dot on the crank gear, but maybe not the dot on the cam gear??

Thanks for any advice,
Rob

 

You might be able to see enough of the crank gear to know where the dot is, but I doubt so on the cam gear. Though, pulling the opti would let you look at the cam position, so you could tell from that.

 

Thanks for the info. That's kind of what I expected, but pulling the opti will require pulling the water pump which I'd really like to avoid doing.... I'm going to give just pulling the crank hub a try tonight and see if I can see both gears with a mirror and some other creativity

-Rob

 

Well, just for future reference, you can NOT see either of the dots on the cam or crank gear just from pulling the crank hub. Guess I'll have to pull the timing cover if I still need to verify cam timing...

-Rob