Timing chains, stock or roller? Advance or straight up?
 

I'm looking at replacing my stock timing set with something better.

I see there are single, double, and true roller setups. What would be best for a mild 351C. I'm looking for long life and durability.

Next, what exactly is the effects of advancing the cam timing? From my understanding it builds more torque and can help mpg. What else?

Thanks

Double roller is enough, even a stocker.

If you want to fiddle with cam timing, you can get a 9 keyway crank sprocket in some sets so you can adjust to your heart's content.

Like so:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hr...view/make/ford

You can get 3 key sets, but those limit you to 4 or 8 degrees advanced or retarded.

Confirm before you buy that it has all those keyways.

One comment I ran into while looking was "...if you have to advance (or retard I suppose) more than 8 degrees, you have the wrong cam....".

Sounds right.

When the cam is advanced it moves the cam in relation to the crank. If the intake closes at 60° with the cam installed straight up it will close at 56° with the cam advanced 4°. Closing the intake earlier moves the peak power rpm down - ~500 rpm for each 10° is a pretty good rule of thumb.

So moving it 4* would only drop it like 200rpm... Is that even worth it?

On a daily driver it will only help. If the timing set has adjustable keyways there's no reason why you shouldn't.

I'd have to buy a new timing set. It is a daily driver/ commuter. So I'm trying to achieve TOP fuel efficiency.

I would only mess with cam timing after running it for a while straight up. You should get a baseline first.

I've been driving it. Got several hundred miles on it. I'm gonna keep playing with the other settings first.

I think I'll switch down to a 500cfm carb if I can find one.

I've been thinking, wouldn't jumping a tooth on a regular timing set be the same as advancing or retarding on a adjustable set up?

One cam tooth would be 10*. But if the cam is ground -4* that would take it to +6*.

I also found a double roller set laying in my parts pile. I might use that.

The Summit cam you've got is ground with 4° advance (112 LSA/108 ICL).

We'll scrap that idea then. I thought it was retarded. Maybe I'm the retard! Lol

I guess if anything I'll just use my new found double roller timing set and advance it another 2 or whatever.

I read in a Hot Rod article that you can advance or retard you timing checking the #1 cylinder. When you get the max cylinder pressure that is what you want to go with.....I wanted to try it but installed mine straight up.....most cams are ground with some advance as stated above.

Excelent point = do your home work. Always degree any cam in first so if you are not satisfied you know for sure where your at before discussing the situation over with the cams mfgr. Blindly changing cam timing without degreeing in & talking it over with it's mfgr is taking nothing more than a shot in the dark. No one wants to take it back apart and put it back at zero where it probably should have been degreed into in the first place.

Nice to play with the cam sprocket but PITA having to drop pan to take timing cover off. Did mine on rebuild and while pretty happy with the 265DEH comp cam in my 400 I just cannot be fecked undoing everything again especially as it does not leak. At the time I spotted a couple of two piece timing covers to make the job easier but budget (and the reality that I really wouldn't be mucking with it that much).
Damn chebbies beat us there in regards to cam replacement and adjustment :(

I had to change the timing cover gasket on my 302 recently, and I was apprehensive because I had just changed the oil pan gasket a year before. That was a pain because I had to drop the front cross member (87 Mustang), so I was worried about causing a leak when I pulled off the front cover. I loosened oil pan gaskets to allow pulling the cover off over the ridge in the front part of the oil pan. In the process, I did break off the front part of the one-piece Fel-Pro gasket. When I put it back together, I used lots of Permatex Ultra Blue, especially in the corner. It's been a couple months, and so far, no oil leak in that area.

Some pics:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...833?banner=pwa