Frankenvette

Hope to install a comp cams extream energy 268 in the near future. I've never installed a cam before, but I have articles in mags talking about degreeing the cam. I know its not mandatory but how necessary?

Corey_68

Depends on who you ask. :D Some die hards degree the cam, while others like myself do not. I feel it's more or less to see what you are working with and how "off" the cam manufactor is when they buit it. It's good practice, but NOT a "Must Do".

:cheers:

Fevre

My thoughts are I would prolly screw it up worse if I thought it was off and I tried to correct it. :) I bought a degree kit so next time I do a cam install I will give it a try just to learn how to do it.

ddecart

It's not necessary at all imho. Make sure you put it in 'straight up' (properly line up the timing marks) and you're good to go.

cardo0

:iagree: I went through the trouble of degreing my new Crane cam while block still in car. Fairly troublesome (compared to when on an engine stand) and found my cam was dead on. Yep not 1 degree off. And most good quality cams I expect will be within 1 or 2 degrees just by using the timing marks.
So I geuss what I'm saying is save yourself a lot of time and energy and use the timing marks. Because if 1 or 2 degrees was that significate to your race motor you would not need to post how or why - you would be answering this for others. :rofl:

wacked

I have never done it. If you do you might see 5HP.
IMOA

GDaina

Today's cam's are computer ground and are dead on the money. If you want to advance or retard the cam timing, you degree the cam. Installing the cam straight up gives best all around performance.

norvalwilhelm

It is not necessary to degree the cam. That said I do not install cams without degreeing. I have also never found one off but I have lined up the marks incorrectly and if I hadn't checked it with the degree wheel I would have buttoned the engine up only to run into problems when I fired it up.
Degreeing if you know what you are doing really doesn't take long and it gives me peace of mind that the cam is installed correctly and when I go to fire the engine I know the cam is right.

SanDiegoPaul

I have built LOTS of motors and never used a degree wheel. I've never had an issue at all.
:smash: KNOCK ON WOOD!

Darrell's 68

I am going to install a new comp cam in my car soon and the directions state that you do not need to degree the cam in.

cardo0

This is true norval as that did happen to me. Yep, somehow managed to install mine 153 degrees out - the first try . But if ur careful this should not happen and one should verify #1 cyl valves shut when #1 TDC (and the same for all the rest of cyls) before installing the oil-pan/timing cover . :thumbs:

zZArAZz

I always installed my cams dot to dot, never had a problem untill one time.
I must have had it off a notch, it looked centered. The end result was bent push rods and damaged valve train. Which came out to a $1700 dollar bill at the machine shop. Since that day, I always degreed just for peace of mind.
It is easy once you learn how. Almost fun.