I have an engine that the cam gears are 8 degrees retarded. The cam sprocket has 36 teeth, so that should make each tooth 10 degrees apart. So if I advance the cam one tooth, 10 degrees, would I end up with a cam advanced 2 degrees???

 

There are different keyways cut into the sprocket where it slides on to your crankshaft. There are also different markings to line up the cam to it. Usually a square means retarded, a triangle means advanced and a circle or dot means straight up. If you change one sprockets position then you have to change the other. It's just not moving one gear over.

 

Whether you use the gear to rotate the cam 10* or the different bolt positions on the cam wouldn't you still end up witht the same result?

 

You can cut a keyway at an infinite number of degrees. Its kind of like moving the slot over 2 degrees except they just cut 3 keyways with different locations.

 

You would come up with the cam 12 deg. advanced. Everything is measured in crankshaft degrees, so there's 720 crank degrees in one revolution of the cam gear.

 

Your crank will be 2 degrees different if you use the other keyways. Are you using the stock timing set or aftermarket? Fords stock timing sets are sometimes retarded for early smog motors. Nevermind, this is a chevy. Sorry couldn't resist. It's probably hard to understand what I am describing but I'll see if I can find an illustration somewhere for you if you don't.

 

RatSmoker, I understand what your talking about advanced/retarded key ways, but this is a factory set which is retarded. Guess I'll just have to get out my degree wheel and dial indicator and find out for myself. Thanks for the responses.

 

Just get an aftermarket timing set, they are usually less than $20, and they're much better than factory units, and you can put them in strait up and not worry about being retarded. I got one of the Crane Blazers, it was about $38, and it's a true double-roller. The double rollers are very difficult to install, though, but you can do it.

The TorqueKing

 

Very difficult to install? Um, how? Did you try to put the big gear on the bottom and the little gear on the top?!?!? They all go on the same!!!

 

no, I put them on right side up, but thanks for asking. The reason is, aftermarket parts are machined to closer tolerances, for instance, torque converters, that's why it takes a little more to install them. I'm sure it would have been easier with the correct tool, I was using a harmonic balancer puller, which I adapted to suit my needs, but not as well as a crank pulley installation tool. the hardest part is once you have the crank pulley on, you have to slide the cam gear into position with the chain installed over both of them, over the dowel in the cam. With a double roller, you have little or no deflection to work with, so it makes it very difficult to position the cam gear with so little slack in the chain. Heck, it's downright easy to do it with a normal Ford chain, they have about an inch of deflection, new.

The TorqueKing