Thread: degree a cam?

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if i buy a degree kit to do it myself is it "hard" and time consuming?

No, there's nothing hard about it. It does take some time and the proper tools, but it's worth it to know that the cam is ground properly from the manufacturer and to know where the critical timing points are taking place in your motor.
http://www.automotivearticles.com/De...amshafts.shtml

This site is for DOHC motors, see the Isky link below for a better explanation of degreeing a motor with the cam in block design.

thanks tech

Here's a better explanation from Isky...
http://www.iskycams.com/degreeing.php

To be honest,I would say My first experiance at cam degreeing was in fact hard and time consuming.But I am so glad for that learning experiance.The toughest problems for me were getting exact repeatabilty with specs. after each check I made.And finding the proper equipment for the job.In particular A)long stem micrometer. B)Had to fabricate a flat cap for the tappet to ensure proper seating for the mic. tip.Also I found my intake and exhaust lobes were not exactly in phase with each other.So, after it was all said and done slight compromises had to made when evaluating the best cam position.Again, yes it was a big pain the neck but still very a challenging and worthwhile endeavor.Read as much as you can on the subject and good luck!

im thinking about going and getting the kit to do it......have you guys know if some mechanic shops or machine shops do it?

breezer, your point about the cap for the lifter is well taken. Many years ago, I made up a lifter replacement bar of steel for every motor I was likely to work on. I made them the diameter of the different lifter bores for each engine and about 6" long, so it would stick up far enough above the deck that I could get the dial indicator stem on it easily.

cityman, think about how much you're going to have to pay somebody to do this at current shop rates and you might be persuaded to learn to do it yourself.

do you HAVE to degree your cam?

If you order the kit from Comp cams it come with a video you can watch over and over til you think you have it....

It's actually pretty easy...

whats the purpose of degreeing your cam?

Degreeing a cam is done for two reasons:
1. Quality assurance. How do you know that all the lobes have been ground at the proper position relative to each other and relative to the crank position? What if the cam grinder was having a bad day (hung-over on Monday) or the CNC computer developed a glich when it was grinding your cam and ground the intakes off the exhaust master or vice-versa.

2. Establishing a baseline. If you're going to maximize your cam timing in this motor, you need to know where you're starting from before you go advancing or retarding the cam so you can keep records of valve timing events and the results of your changes.

If you don't plan to make any changes after the motor is running, put the cam in on the factory timing marks and hope for the best.

so it would be a bad idea not to degree it and then set the timing4 degrees adv or retarted at the timing chain?

Certainly, you can advance or retard the cam without knowing where the valve events are occuring. You can also make a pass at the drag strip without collecting your timing slip and say to yourself, yeah, I think that last pass felt pretty good.

hahaha nicely put

Tech....

Thats funny...really... I laughed...

Auto....

like they said...you do not have to degree your cam... but for Optimum performance it's a must...

People degree there cams in because of core shift....

What this means as a block "seasons" it moves and because of machining tolerance this can become more complicated...

If you take to identicle blocks machine them the same and one has more core shift than the other well cam timing can be affected...
I have seen block vary as much as 4 degrees...I have heard of more....

you'll notice more of a difference "light to light" than you would in the 1/4 but it is always nice to know where your at if you should run into trouble....