[grandville455]

Who's Near me in WI.. that can help me degree my current cam to make sure its at 104 where it is suppose to be.Hell i will Pay someone for their gas I just need help .. I am getting really sick of this car not really picking up with cam changes!.Be Nice to know if when i installed it dot to dot if its where its suppose to be... Just doesnt make sense... Sick of everyone else going faster with simple changes when i fight for every damn hundredth it seems!.. Christ a guy at the track today picked up over 4 tenths with a cam change alone in his stupid chebby! Yes I am frustrated!!
Thanks!!!

[Mike Davis]

Don't get too discouraged! I spent $3500 and only picked up .08

[grandville455]

We'll its just so damn frustrating everytime i read about someone picking up with something i try it and nope! slows down or car doesnt like it... It is so hard to make 4600 pds fast! and keep it streetable so i can drive it to and from track and not spend a million bucks doing it! I dont have a degree wheel and it would be really nice to know if its where its suppose to be hell if its at 104 you wouldnt think i would need to be shifting at 5300 on a 108 LSA when everyone else is shifting at 5000 on wider LSA's! just doesnt make sense to me.....

[67drake]

Darby,I know you are at the opposite end of the state,but if you are going to be down this way at all,you're more then welcome to use my cam degreeing set up. Maybe you can borrow one locally? Heck,I'd ship it to you,but with current UPS,USPS rates you could probabily buy a degree wheel,dial indicator,ECT.

[grandville455]

I would be glad to take u up on that,but I have only ever degreed one cam and not sure if i ever did it right.. I think the biggest thing is setting it up so there is no flex in the dial indicator, plus trying to get true tdc with the stop too... Maybe u want to come up and help? .... The car feels strong I guess i would like to know for sure.I mean do i have to tear down the engine again to do this? just like a cam swap basically? or is there an easier less troublesome way?

[Will]

Degree wheels cost less than cam & lifter sets...???

[grandville455]

67Drake sent you a pm ,but there full!...
Will
the last one i had i had to have the stud cut off and i bigger one welded on so it would screw into the valve cover hole.. as it was made for a chevy.I guess being older now i could just use a adapter to screw onto the threads didnt think of that back then,lol.. which ones do you use? Do I have to tear it all the way down again?

[Cliff R]

"Don't get too discouraged! I spent $3500 and only picked up .08"

Ah, the price of performance!

Darby, once you have documented the performance at "dot to dot", why not just obtain a 9 keyway Rollmaster timing set, advance it 2 degrees, then go back to the track?

I moved my cam 4 times in 2 weeks to see where it wanted to be, which turned out to be at 109ICL right where it started out at!

If you jack up the rear of the vehicle when you drain the coolant, then let it back down, nothing will come spewing out the holes in the block when you remove the timing cover.

I also glue the gaskets to the pan and engine, then used car paste wax as a release agent on the timing cover. After all the testing I glued it up with new gaskets back at 109ICL.

I would advance the cam 2 degrees, make some runs, compare notes. If it picks up go 2 more degrees. If advancing it doesn't help, move it back 2 degrees and repeat the procedure.

Once you get a handle on removing the balancer and timing cover, the whole job takes less than an hour. I got mine down to about 20 minutes after a couple of times......Cliff

[grandville455]

Cliff
Thats not a bad idea either, But shouldnt i know first with a degree wheel where it really is or who cares?,lol as long as its faster.. but then i am not giving accurate info to anyone who asks where its set either? for one I have seen alot of problems with people trying to install those damn sets,lol.. and two do u think if it is at 104 already it would want to be advanced anymore? I mean thats pretty early plus with the action of the rhoads doesn't those kinda advance it a little to by their action i thought i read? Your thinking is solid tho!!

[Cliff R]

Darby, considering the complexity of finding true TDC, getting a degree wheel, making a pointer, getting a dial indicator, removing the valve cover, spark plug, etc, etc, it would make sense to simply use "dot to dot" as your baseline for testing, and move the cam a couple of degrees either way to see what helps the most?......Cliff

[grandville455]

Thats very true Cliff... How about this one I found on ebay?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PONTI...spagenameZWD1V

[Cliff R]

At least they took the time to mark the keyways and the matching teeth on the bottom sprocket!......Cliff

[grandville455]

So this is a good one?.So How do you turn the cam when all the load is on it when u advance or retard the crank sprocket? Or dont you have to? or am i being dumb,lol

[Cliff R]

According to the advertising it's good stuff, never actually used one under that brand name so I don't know for sure?

My current engine is using a stock link plate set.....Cliff

[67drake]

Darby,sorry,I cleared a few old messages out of my box.Check your PM's.

[screamingchief]

I have one of those chainsets like that one in the link Darby,lots of places selling those nowadays,IIRC I got mine from summit.

My only issue is my chain seems slightly loose,begining to think that engine may have been align bored/honed and I need to get a chainset for that situation.

Otherwise that chainset is a nice enough piece IMO,just be sure to check the final thurst specs with that bronze thrust washer,seems to me it could be hit or miss,though I have'nt got that far with mine yet,I just threw mine on to degree my solid cam in the 406 for the race car.

It was'nt too loose to effect the degreeing process,but still seems pretty loose to me.

Wont know about that chain issue till I try another set I guess.

I did'nt build that motor,so I dont know the specifics 100% on it,I traded my '73 ventrua for it when I had to move,and the engine was easier to move than the car was,so I made the trade and threw that engine and another engine in the back of the ryder truck and dragged the whole mess back down to Texas with me as I knew I could find another body for both down here.

[Motor Daddy]

Originally Posted by screamingchief

It was'nt too loose to effect the degreeing process,but still seems pretty loose to me.

Wont know about that chain issue till I try another set I guess.

Did ya ever ride a single speed bike when you were a kid? Did ya ever over tighten the chain and notice how hard it was to pedal, and then loosen the chain up and see how much easier it is to pedal?

[triathlonx13]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

"Don't get too discouraged! I spent $3500 and only picked up .08"

Ah, the price of performance!

Darby, once you have documented the performance at "dot to dot", why not just obtain a 9 keyway Rollmaster timing set, advance it 2 degrees, then go back to the track?

I moved my cam 4 times in 2 weeks to see where it wanted to be, which turned out to be at 109ICL right where it started out at!

If you jack up the rear of the vehicle when you drain the coolant, then let it back down, nothing will come spewing out the holes in the block when you remove the timing cover.

I also glue the gaskets to the pan and engine, then used car paste wax as a release agent on the timing cover. After all the testing I glued it up with new gaskets back at 109ICL.

I would advance the cam 2 degrees, make some runs, compare notes. If it picks up go 2 more degrees. If advancing it doesn't help, move it back 2 degrees and repeat the procedure.

Once you get a handle on removing the balancer and timing cover, the whole job takes less than an hour. I got mine down to about 20 minutes after a couple of times......Cliff

Good Tip !!!

.

[68lemans462]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Darby, considering the complexity of finding true TDC, getting a degree wheel, making a pointer, getting a dial indicator, removing the valve cover, spark plug, etc, etc, it would make sense to simply use "dot to dot" as your baseline for testing, and move the cam a couple of degrees either way to see what helps the most?......Cliff

I've never degreed a cam with the engine in the car, but I'm guessing its a major PITA! I'd agree with Cliff here!

[grandville455]

Yea .. I am leaning towards degreeing this .. cause even tho i have some good info from where its at now... if i change it 2 degrees and hit the track next.. the weather is not going to be exactly where it was prior... so atleast this way i will know where its sitting in the car and if it needs advancing i can do it at that time as i do have the mopar keys... I just feel its retarded some as to why the shift point is kinda high for a tight LSA cam and supposedly at 104 at dot to dot....the other way is alot less work true but be good to know where its at.. even without indexing the balancer