I got my 383/Ram jet cam in last night. I wasn't planning on degreeing it since it's a factory GM cam, but some of the guys on the Astro forum think I should.

Even if I did degree the cam, I really don't know what to do with that info. Is it just a matter of making sure the cam degrees the same as the cam card? Well...this cam didn't come with a cam card.

Most of the cam swaps I've done have been in 5.0 Mustangs. No one ever degrees the FRPP cams and they don't have any problems.

What to do...?

 

Personaly I think it's over rated in these day's.
Maybe back when machinery wasn't as good, and toleraces could be lose on 1 out of every 5th cam.

I think the only reason I would degree a cam now-a-days, is if I didn't have a part number on it, and I wasn't sure what cam I have.



Ron

 

i'd degree it, i degree every cam i put in for a preformance type application.

 

Hey ede...when I degree it, what am I looking for anyway? This cam didn't come with a card.

 

You need the card or the advertised specs, because degreeing the cam, does nothing but make sure that your cam was cut properly.

Ron

 

Actually, you can more or less draw up your own specifications. You should be able to find the lobe centerline and therefore the LSA of any cam with a dial indicator and degree wheel. Half of the purpose of degreeing a cam is to assure that the cam you have installed is actually what you intended. Once you have determined that, you can find the TDC of the crank and time the cam to wherever you want based on the LC of the intake lobe. You can't change the LCA, but can time it based on LC wherever you want.

I'd also agree that finding a cam that isn't maufactured to specs is probably like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack - but I'd hate to find out the hard way that I was stuck with that needle... If you already have the indicator and wheel, you might as well at least check it.