Do you guys degree your camshaft?

dash_cam · 2025-09-17T20:26:33-0400

Hello friends, it's me again...

I have decided to swap the camshaft on my freshly rebuilt, not even broken in yet, engine. It's a drag, but the decision has been made. I'm not super excited about it, honestly, but I have good reasons and in the end I should come out better for it.

Now, I've only ever built one engine from scratch. It was a 289 and quite some time ago. That said, I'm 99% sure we did not degree the cam. And, to my teenage butt dyno, it ran great.

My question is, considering I'm not building a race engine do I really need to do it? I feel like if I just set #1 to TDC, install the cam, set the timing and install the timing chain, them I should be good. Degreeing basically just makes sure the camshaft is to spec, even though the cam card is the measurements of my specific cam? Or what?

What it comes down to is I really don't want to remove the head to verify absolute TDC and feel like if I don't then it's not worth trying to do.

El Kabong · 2025-09-17T20:47:38-0400

IIrc the method for locating TDC for degreeing a cam was to use an extended stop in the #1 spark plug hole. Gently rotate the crank till it stops. Mark that point on the balancer. Rotate the crank gently in the opposite direction till it stops. Mark that point on the balancer. Remove the stop. Halfway between the marks is TDC.

The head stays on & the point is precise.

Burntoutaccountant · 2025-09-17T20:53:29-0400

Yes you need to do it.

corral can provide a solid answer on this too. Many more people building engines over there.

El Kabong · 2025-09-17T22:44:06-0400

Summit has the spark plug hole piston stops. Amazon too.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-900189

Gregor · 2025-09-18T06:50:57-0400

I just hollowed out a sparkplug, tapped the inside of the sparkplug barrel and used a nylon bolt. Less chance of marring a piston.

dash_cam · 2025-09-18T11:27:40-0400

yea, i know there are ways to get TDC without removing the head, but if i'm going through the exercise of doing all that work, it would be most accurate to put a gauge on the piston and measure exactly TDC. everything else is an estimate of varying accuracy. which brings me back to the point of skipping or doing it 100%

El Kabong · 2025-09-18T11:50:42-0400

I don't think that would be as accurate as using the stop. There is a point where the piston rests at TDC as the crank turns over center. It's short, but it's long enough that a gauge couldn't read exactly when it was at center. Not just arriving at the top, or just about to leave the top, but dead center. Using the stop in both directions & measuring between those points would be more precise. They also make a stop to use with the head off, but the routine is the same.

Kingfish999 · 2025-09-18T11:57:25-0400

i have degreed a few cams becuse they are custom grinds and in a custom cam the degreeing procudure is abit different. in majority of cases found that straight up was correct

you can use a 5/8" bolt if you need to. i made a compression tester adapter into one for my use

then you need a degree wheel on the crank. a dial indicator on a lifter/pushrod. piece of wire to mark the timing on wheel. measure the lift at certain points and you can adjust the timing set to be correct. some cams need to be advance/retarded for there appications

CrazyBRONCOguy · 2025-09-18T12:08:19-0400

Yeah the degree-ing I feel is a bit misleading.... Its more of a check and adjust to match what YOUR doing on YOUR exact build. No one size fits all on this.

I have used an indicator with an extra long extension, to get true tdc, not everyone has access to that stuff tho.

robbz28 · 2025-09-18T13:28:04-0400

I degreed mine, but it was mainly to ensure that I got the correct camshaft. Its supposed to also help with slight differences in machine process of your FORD crankshaft, Cloyes Timing set, Crane camshaft etc...you get a degree off on all of those at the end you could be 4 degrees off timing. Its just about KNOWING what you have, and if you are off 4 degrees then you can adjust for that. When i got mine done i was about 1 degree off total, which of course in MY case is negligible, plus my timing set was only adjustable by 2 degree increments...spent a lot of money on that set only to not need the adjustability lol.

dash_cam · 2025-09-18T15:15:38-0400

yea, maybe part of my reluctance is a lack of knowledge on this one, but you're right.

i'm swapping b/c of issues already, i guess it makes sense to do it to make sure the fix doesn't introduce new issues.

Moving target · 2025-09-20T23:15:57-0400

When I bought my cam from Ed Curtis they were very clear that it needed to be done. I had no reason not to.

Do you guys degree your camshaft?

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