Before I reinstall the mounting bolt for the camshaft sprocket, I wanted to get an opinion. Should there be a piece that slides over the bolt (after the large washer)? The opening at the center of the sprocket is a lot wider than the bolt, and there seems to be remnants of some sort of plastic piece still on the bolt. Pictures below.

<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3da00b3127ccef2becf1d5c1c00000030O00EYtnDls3Zswe3nww/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00303769806120130422022131420.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/">

<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3da00b3127ccef2be7baf5cf400000030O00EYtnDls3Zswe3nww/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00303769806120130422022123621.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/">

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

Bolt it up and torque it properly (or if you are turning high rpm, loctite it before torqueing).

There is no piece that goes in that spot. I didn't see a bushing so hopefully you got it degreed in properly instead of lining up the dots (just making sure).

-D.Idiot

The plastic like stuff is maybe some old excess locktite.

Richard

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Great, thanks for the info guys. I would have loved to have degreed it in properly, but I decided not to once I realized I was going to have to remove the head. My radiator was leaking anyway, so I got that replaced and am just doing a chain swap for the time being.

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

It is not necessary to remove the head to degree your cam.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

It's not? All the tutorials I saw used a dial indicator mounted to the block. Or is that more accuracy than I require, meaning I can skip that part? Do you have a resource you can point me to, or am I just essentially centering the cam card? Thanks.

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

Set up your dial indicator on the valve cover flange and read right off the valve spring retainer. Adjust any clearance out of the rocker arm first.

I have had a couple of the timing sets that were way off. I believe they were stamped wrong. So degreeing is very important IMO.
Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

You may have to make a little stiff platform to mount dial indicator’s magnetic base on that can held on place by one of the valve cover bolts.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Exactly. It makes your magnetic base a lot more stable.

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Okay, so I followed your advice and have acquired a dial indicator and a cam degree wheel. I'm still unclear on a few things, though. I've looked at SO many tutorials, now. I believe I have a factory cam, but no cam card. However, I found this thread, which led to me to this thread. What is this "grind number" business, and how can I determine what I have?

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

That only refers to the number corresponding to the lobe, profile, or cam recipe that you order out of the cam companies catalog. So if i picked a "791" grind out of Oregon cam grinding's catalog I'd get a 230/230 @.050 108 lobe separation with a .48-ish lift. Some companies stamp the grind on the nose of the cam so if you lose the card (and they are still in business), you cna request a cam card for it...

If it's not an aftermarket cam that came with a card, you get the fun of finding the numbers on the net for the grind, or look in your service manual (if you have the appropriate year), and/or "mapping" the cam profile by reading the degree wheel numbers according to the lift of both exhaust and intake lobes...).

-D.Idiot

Ugh. So how many different factory cams could have been produced between '76-'80 (the range of years my engine could be)? Would I have any luck soliciting that information from the board? And to "map" the cam lobes, would that be possible just going off the spring retainer with the dial indicator, as suggested above?

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

Okay, scratch that - I found this, which says...

"1971-1980 used a 244° / 244° / 26° / 0.414" cam"

I don't entirely grasp what all these numbers mean, but in particular, what does the "26°" refer to?

Is the cam listed above one of these?

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine

Yes, it's the cam on line three. 26° is for Overlap. What you want to look at is the intake closing event. As long as that is right, everything else will work out. The intake closing will be the number you need to compute Dynamic Compression Ratio.

To degree a cam, zero lash and take your measurements. Keep in mind that if you are looking at 0.050" numbers for cam lift, you need to take into account rocker ratio when measuring at the valve. Most numbers will be for .002", .006" or something similar at the valve for closing and for advertised duration numbers. 0.050" numbers are more useful for actual flow information, as very little flow occurs at valve lift less than that value.
Some cam cards come with the 0.050" value for valve lift. Others for cam lift. Determine which one you need for a given cam. For the 244 Mopar cam, I believe that was valve lift, so you should be golden.

To keep it simple, zero the lash and check for the closing point. As long as you are in that ballpark when the valve is @ .006 or less, it should be fine. As you open up the lash to .010", the valve will be closed at that point. Degreeing with the lash opened up to spec just adds more complexity.

This photo shows a method for mounting the magnetic base for the dial indicator:

You can set this up on either side of the head, and it doesn't need to be full length. Mine is build that way, but it isn't strictly speaking necessary.
Mounted on the valve side of the rocker shaft, you can read directly on the valve spring retainer. keep the indicator parallel with the valve stem to avoid inducing errors.

2¢

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Thanks so much for the guidance, Ceej. Try as I might, though, I'm not comprehending everything you're saying. You said: So if I go by these specs (in purple)...
<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a3db33b3127ccef34cc1dcb0db00000030O00EYtnDls3Zswe3nww/cC/f%3D0/ls%3D00303769806120130513025814823.JPG/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/">
...is that to say that once I've confirmed my max lift is .406, as the indicator needle goes back to zero the degree wheel should be at 48°? And why might I need to compute the Dynamic Compression Ratio? I'm just trying to get my timing chain and gears to their factory setting.

And I've seen that .006 figure before, but I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. When you say... ...what quantifiable ballpark are you referring to?

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J.R.
Tucson, AZ
'68 Dart 270 with a '76-'80 engine