oxblood!z28

I got into this discussion with this friend at the shop about degreeing a cam. I had mentioned that I was in the process of getting a degree kit and that it required that I removed the head to degree the cam. He said that that all i needed to was to remove the valve cover and degree it from the rocker arm. I know there are other ways of degreeing and I know you can do it from the rocker arm but it requires that you change the spring. he's saying you can do it from the rocker arm were the pushrod meet up without changing the spring. Is this true? and Is it just as good as removing the head. I'm going to get the LS kit from comp cams and i don't think they offer a kit for degreeing with the valve cover off .

JS01

iTrader: (10)

Your friend is correct. You can take a rocker off and put a dial indicator on the tip of a pushrod. It is accurate as long as you get the travel of the indicator tip parallel with the pushrod. All you need is a piston stop (to set TDC on the degree wheel), degree wheel, pointer, and dial indicator (and way to mount/hold indicator into position)

3rdCoastPowerSports

iTrader: (5)

JS01 is correct. done it many times works like a charm. you have to remove the balancer bolt to install the degree wheel on the crank snout. find your tdc with a piston stop and zero your wheel to your pointer

oxblood!z28

I don't think comp cams offers that kind of kit. Or I haven't seen a kit out there for that purpose that can get the indicator parallel to the PR.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

I've typically degree'd in the cam with the head off, but with the head on, I'd rather degree it in with the rocker arm in place and the indicator on the retainer. That way you take into account the rocker ratio, and with the real springs on there, deflection too. You may be suprised by how much it changes from measuring just off the lobe.

oxblood!z28

sounds complicated. I just got the degree kit today so I'm going to degree it with the heads off. I feel a little more confident doing it that way.

oxblood!z28

Got the number 1 cylinder exposed to degree my cam, I just recieved my degree kit (Comp Cams) but it doesn't show how to set the kit up. I got a little help at the shop to some what guide me in the right direction, but due to time I didnt start degreeing it yet. Does any one have a good right up on degreeing a cam. I've tried searcing and nothing so far. So far I have the cylinder at the top but does that mean it is at TDC. Is this my starting point?

chopperman69

iTrader: (-1)

check youtube. lot of good videos out there on degreeing a cam.

badazz81z28

iTrader: (6)

Hard to believe there is that much concern that you need to degree a cam. Are cam grinding tolerences just out there? Seems like all youre really doing is verifying A-You got the right cam, B- to make sure it is at spec

Will need to do this as well...$179 for another one time use tool.

JS01

iTrader: (10)

Yes, it's not just the cam though. It's the timing set and crank keyway as well. Tolerance stack up makes it very possible for you to be several degrees off between those three.

LS1MCSS

iTrader: (18)

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/116_07...t/viewall.html

RezinTexas

This book has a very thorough and fully illustrated write-up

http://www.amazon.com/LS-Series-Engi...2671712&sr=1-3

kyoytey1693

iTrader: (7)

Are you running and adjustable timing set? If not, degreeing the cam is waste of time other than telling you that the cam is ground in spec or not, right? Or is there another benefit?

KCS

iTrader: (20)

Is it a waste of time to know your true cam specs, or where it's ICL/ECL end up at? I wouldn't think so. With everything set up to degree your cam, you're another 5 minutes from checking PTV anyways.

kyoytey1693

iTrader: (7)

I probably didn't make my questions clear enough... Without an adjustable timing set you can't change anything if the cam is not the exact specs you ordered/wanted, right? At that point, knowing the exact ICL/ECL would be just a few more specs in your head that you couldn't change, right?

JS01

iTrader: (10)

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-4760/

Could possibly drill out the stock upper cam gear and use these. Common on budget builds for older engines.

oxblood!z28

Yeah I have an adjustable timing set. the Youtube Vids are helpful I just don't have access to it when I'm over there. Anyhow I'm going to attempt to check today.

oxblood!z28

I'm a little confused on finding TDC so far I've spun the crank one direction until it touches the piston stop. than I go the opposite direction until I touch the stop. All the time recording the numbers off the degree wheel. the number between the two is true TDC correct? After that do I turn the wheel to the in between number, and than rotate the wheel to zero?

joecar

You turn the crank so the pointer points to the in-between number (this is where zero will now be), and then without moving the crank you set the wheel/pointer to zero (by adjusting wheel and/or pointer).

See step 7 on page 8: http://www.compcams.com/technical/in.../files/145.pdf

andrewdruiz

iTrader: (20)

Hi guys, I'm in the middle of degreeing my cam as well and I'm a little lost, I can't seem to move forward with it.

I took my car to the dyno and it peaked way too early (228/228 114 LSA) - I don't recall the exact number, but my tuner told me to degree my cam, as it wasn't properly degreed.

Anyways, I understand finding TDC, aligning the degree wheel, but I don't get the next couple of steps:

1. I watched the Comp Cams video on Youtube and it told me to do it on the valve spring retainer with the lightened springs, and to multiply the measured lift by the rocker ratio (1.7) - so I get .085 - that's the number I shoot for, correct? So I turn the crank clockwise until the valve tops out, zero out my dial indicator, rotate it until the dial indicator starts moving (the valve starts going down) and until it hits .085 - and measure at the degree wheel, correct? Then I keep moving forward, and the lifter goes "over" the lobe, sets back, and hits .085 again - and measure again, add that to the other number + 180 and then that will give me the duration, correct? But when I do that, it tells me to advance the cam (reduce the RPM range - lower my peak, when I'm already peaking low) - but that was the whole problem in the first place - am I doing something wrong?

Also, when I do it the intake centerline method - I can only get low 100's - in the Comp Cams video they get 200+ and divide it by 2. What am I doing wrong?