I'm in the process of building a carb'd 350 to put in my 85 z28. I bought a cam from Craigslist to put in it that is a comp cam custom grind for an lt1. I've been trying to find info on what timing chain to use but no luck. Someone told me that any timing chain from 87-up would work, because the bolt circle is smaller than pre 86 cams. I went and bought a timing chain set for an 88 camaro, and went to match it up. It's still bigger. Did the parts store give me the wrong one? Or do I have to use a specific timing chain set to use an lt1 cam?

 

The timing set for an LT1 is completely different. It likely won't fit the block due to the gear that runs the water pump. The nose of a LT1 cam and any factory roller SBC cam should be the same minus the alignment pin on and LT1 is longer to drive the optispark. I'm not exactly sure why the gear you have won't match up to the cam you have.

 

They might've just given me the wrong one. IT's a double roller style and it was 6 bucks cheaper so I figured I'd go with that one. Im gonna return it and order a stock style one and see what happens

 

You didn't state what year the block is, or if it's a roller block. A lt1 cam will fit a roller block if the timing chain dowel pin is cut down. If your block isn't a roller block with at least the spider web hold down you would need to get a retrofit roller cam/lifters. IMO unless your building a striker and have a lot into the engine already a retrofit can /lifter wouldn't be worth doing.

 

I'm not sure the exact year on the block but it's a roller block, has the three bolt holes down the center for the lifter plate and has the spot for the thrust plate. It was from a work van, I'm leaning toward early 90s. The deck was machined before I got it so the block numbers been shaved off

 

I actually traded someone my non-roller block because he plans on running a flat tappet cam so I was like let's trade blocks so I can use my roller cam easier. I have the whole conversion from an lb9 when I blew that up a few years ago

 

Doesn't make much difference. All of the blocks were cast with the roller provision, but sometimes the ones that went in trucks were machined for the roller stuff, sometimes they weren't - I've seen both.

The one thing that may matter is the distance between the cam retainer bolts did change as the years went by, so the plate from your LB9 may not fit. Only way to know is to fit check it. I ran into that, just elongated the plate bolt holes until they matched the block.

I haven't used an LT1 cam myself, but I have always heard what Tuned says - use a factory roller cam version (pre-LT1) timing set and modify the pin (driving it in farther is what I recall).