[Dynomite]

When the camshafts were pinned at the factory (I assume that is how the cams were timed)......were Special Hold Down Clamps used or were the existing Camshaft Retainers used by themselves?

See second Page of Marc's Camshaft Timing for brief discussion including the source of the "Tighter Hold Down Clamps" Camshaft Hold Down Caps

Marc suggests that the factory Camshaft Timing using pins was accomplished with the existing Camshaft Retainers. I am not sure how far off you would be with the Camshaft .010 tighter in the journals.

You would get more Valve lift using the Tighter Hold Down Clamps but you are not measuring Lift.....It would seem that the Angular Center Of Cam Maximum Lift (Camshaft Angular Rotation at Maximum Lifter Compression which is what we are measuring) would be the same with or without the Tighter Hold Down Clamps.

I use a 15/64 drill bit as a pin to start the Camshaft timing process by pinning. But....you can use a flashlight and observe the Pinning Hole in the camshaft as it comes into view in the Front Camshaft Retainer Pinning Port. You can even get used to what degree is a 1/4 moon and 1/2 moon of the Camshaft Pinning Hole as it intersects the Front Camshaft Retainer Pinning Port.


bdw18_123s Camshaft Timing Thread is an excellent presentation of the Camshaft Timing Process. That Camshaft Timing was accomplished with Engine Out Of Car (That is also Marc's recommendation....Time the Camshafts with Engine Out Of Car). bdw18_123s Camshaft Timing

Originally Posted by bdw18_123

I documented how I did it on the '90 ZR-1 I used to own without any Kent Moore tools in my restoration thread. Here is a link to the page in that thread where I started doing the timing:

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9693&page=13

The one thing though that I would not recommend you try that I did with regard to the special timing tools, is the way I got around having the camshaft hold down caps. The special 'plasticy' tape that I used on the stock caps did work, but it didn't work as well as I thought, because the tape kept slipping off even though I used oil in between. So I had to keep re-applying new tape.

I made it work, but next time I do this, I will be buying the special hold down caps. I can't remember who to contact get those caps though, someone here should know.