I just wanted to let anyone out there know that putting the Comp Cam kit K12-238-2 (XE 262H) in the L69 H.O. 305 (Auto) is WELL worth the money. I paid $280 for the kit and $480 to have the entire kit put in. My mechanic buddy set the timing by feel and sound and WOWEE!

It has a beautiful idle now, not lopey, but noticeable. It also breaks the rear tires loose through 2nd gear (I know, not that superb). From a dead stop and stomping on the pedal, she gets all kinds of sideways and its easy to do a brake stand! It also pulls way nicer at around 55 mph.

This cam was recommended by Comp Cam staff and I couldn't be happier. Talk about the best bang for your buck without replacing the engine! Just thought I'd post this since there are a ton of posts asking which cam is best for the L69. I think this is the best without the need for a stall converter and staying legal.

 

Sounds good but I would set the timing with a timing light.

 

Why??

Either it runs right, or it doesn't. Doesn't matter what "number" lights up.

The engine doesn't whup out a light, examine the "mark", and decide accordingly how it's going to run. In fact, I have it on good authority, that they can't even read at all.

"If it RUNS good, it IS good".

 

What did he do, advance the timing until it pinged under load then backed it off a couple of degrees? If so then that's probably nowhere close to being correct. Put a timing light on it and see where the base timing is. Bring up to rpms to at least 3000 rpm or until the timing stops advancing and see where the total timing is.

Based on the cam specs, your base timing should be in the 12-13* range. Without knowing how much mechanical or ECM advance is in the distributor, I can't guess on the total timing. Normally it should be in the 32-38 range. Each engine is different for the total timing.

 

With ALky get a light on it so you have an idea of where its at go from there
Most detonation youll never hear....by the time its good and audible you could already have had damage.

Thats a good cam for sbc enjoy

 

Timing with a light is super easy anyway...and highly recommended.

Tuning by ear works great for guitars, not for cars.

 

Even those musicians have little boxes that show them the frequencies a human ear cant distinguish.

If I could hear micro-detonation and calibrate my butt dyno I could throw away most of my diagnostic equiptment.

I am glad you have a good running car. Better breathing goes a long way for sure. But it won't last. Once you get used to it you'll want more, More, MORE!!!

 

I have the same cam on my L69 and so far I'm very happy with it. I'm still working on adjusting everything so I havn't been able to drive it.

My initial timing is set at 15-16 degrees. I thought this would be a little high but so far that is where the engine is happiest.

 

Sure...

But:

To what value? :shrug:

The stock "spec" isn't even "optimum" for a STOCK motor. It's a barrel of compromises serving MANY masters; emissions, operation under any possible conditions from Death Valley to Alaska to New Orleans summer winter fall spring, fuel economy during the "test drive" cycle (which isn't even REMOTELY like any of us would drive a car, it's more like Grandma chugging along in a rush-hour traffic jam in too high of a gear), all possible fuel that it might have to deal with, .... and so forth.

But this ISN'T a stock motor any more. It will want some different timing even from a stock one, let alone the stock "spec".

And then there's always the question of the accuracy of the timing marks. How accurate do you suppose those are? Ever checked? Ever occur to you that maybe that's one of the reasons why 2 supposedly "identical" factory-stock cars don't run the same?

What good is knowing where some light says it's set to do, if you don't know what the engine wants?

Those of use who know how to tune BOTH musical instruments AND engines, know better than to hallucinate that just because "a light" was used, that the timing is somehow "right". Or for that matter, that just because one was NOT used, that it's "wrong".

 

All good points. I used to take a timing light to the track and make adjustments to see how things changed. Some small blocks liked more timing (40 total) and others liked a little less (34 total), dependent upon multiple factors like compression, chamber design, etc. I freely admit that my experience is minimal but seeing results in action at the track is a lot of fun. Timing by SOTP feel is tough, 100% agreed. And if you didn't verify your balancer/pointer markings during the build then obviously the more ambiguous it becomes. I've seen balancer/pointer setups so far off its a wonder the engine even started. I guess its not to say that timing by sound is impossible, but having a number to work with sure makes things easier to dial in..

 

^^^

I do both; use a timing light to give it what it wants. I verified my timing marks last cam swap. Then using the light makes it easy to get relative measurements while tuning, so once I've found the sweet spot and then fall off it by fiddling further, I can return to it. Then I've got a number to refer to later.

 

It's worthwhile to check the base timing USING FACTORY BASE TIMING PROCEDURE (which ammounts to unplugging the flat 4-wire ECM timing connector pigtail sticking out the back of the distributor, above the trans bellhousing) just to know where the base timing is right now. If it's at 10* now, for example, then you know where it runs well and you can play around with it later to see how it affects performance. You can also reset it to that same baseline if you ever need to remove the distributor for any reason or it gets bumped out of time acidentially.

And write it down! You are guaranteed the fail the memory test on this months or years from now.

Glad you like the new cam. Enjoy it!