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In the middle of doing a partial rebuild on my 351M engine due to half the gaskets leaking. As a note I purchased the truck this summer and don't know much about its history.
While I had the timing cover off I noticed the timing chain was looking awfully old and had lots of play in it. Heard around a few places that this engine was retarded 4 degrees in timing to meet emission standards at the time and while you are in there you should put in a "true timing" kit
The kit I bought on rock auto has 3 state, 4 Advanced, Original, 4 Retarded.
My question is when installed onto the cam and crank what should it actually look like with the key ways?
Attached is how I have it now which I believe to be the original setting. I believe I should be setting it at 4 Advanced but wanted to confirm before I closed it up.
Engine work like this is very much a first for me. Advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
You have the keyways/gear alignment correct. As to going 4 degrees advance ? Not knowing about the cam, but assuming it is original I would tend to go with the original timing. Maybe some others that have gone with the 4 degree advance will chime in.
Sorry, when I said original timing I meant "straight up" not the 4 degree retarded which is not so good. Going straight up is safe default position.
This does answer my question. The original timing chain I pulled out looked exactly like this in the straight up position. That is what confused me on whether or not that came from factory.
The only way you'll know for sure is to get a degree wheel and set up the chain from there. If you want it straight up, you'll need to find that point on the cam. There are some good videos on youtube explaining how to do it.
From my understanding, which is a good possibility is wrong, the gears themselves were retarded BUT, lined up as yours do correctly..? If that makes sense... and by installing new timing chain/gears you got rid of the 4* retard... and yes, the best way is to get a degree wheel and proceed from there as 52Merc stated. Congrats on digging into your engine and learning!! IIRC, back when, maybe still, you could get degreed keys that were offset advanced or retarded... when I rebuilt my 351 Measly I did a Comp Cam, lifters, pushrods, timing set and WOW did that wake it up! Same mileage, but it is now a much more fun smileage
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