Please tell me what tools exactly I will need for degreeing my 63 225 with a stock cam.

The kits I see come with a degree wheel: some have a larger hole, some have a smaller one, but all of them do not look like they will fit over our crank end. I see some kits with bushings, but all seem to have a center 'screw' to keep the bushing in place and my crank isn't tapped for a screw in the center. Does this mean I need a crank socket to use the degree wheel correctly?

Trying to go the cheapest route possible: buying a degree wheel, dial indicator, stand, making my own piston stop and pointer, and NOT buying a crank socket: just rotating the crank by hand, but then I looked at the cam degree wheel, wondered how it attached correctly, and realized that maybe I'm going to be forced to buy a crank socket.

Or should I just bite the bullet and buy the kit with everything? Kinda pricey....

Your crank is most definitely tapped for a bolt. Not all engines have them, but all cranks are threaded.

To save money you can find degree wheels online to print out. Find one the right size and glue it to an old CD.

Harbor freight has a cheapie dial indicator with magnetic base that will work, it's not all that accurate or repeatable but good enough for cam degreeing.

I'm not sure I know what you mean by 'crank socket'. The factory bolt has a large head, is that what you are referring to? Just find a bolt with the right thread at home depot and use that, you don't need to leave it in.

I have a degree wheel and dial indicator you can borrow if you want to drive down to Long Beach.

Professional rebuilders have a socket that goes over the bare crank nose and has a slot cut in it to grab the damper key so they can turn the crank while installing the rods or checking for other things during assembly. I just install a long 3/4"NF bolt with washers to hold the degree wheel, and use a nut or two on the end of the bolt so that 1 can be loosened to adjust the wheel, and the other will secure the bolt in the end of the crank snout and allow me to use a large boxend wrench to turn the crank...

-D.Idiot

Gotcha, thanks. I've never degreed a slant six cam but have done many, many OHC engines and always done it the way you describe - with a bolt in the crank snout.

Hey, thanks for responding on this, and thanks for the offer of the degree wheel, etc. robertob. Printed out a degree wheel and now that I just got the timing chain, crank socket, and cam gear on, I'll be (hopefully) degreeing tonight.

Yeah, you're absolutely right, my crank is tapped for a bolt. Totally couldn't see the threads, but now they're visible. Wouldn't you know it: there's a racing supply store not a block from my house that has all sorts of specialty bolts, springs, fasteners and other junk. Picked up my crank bolt here when all the normal hardware stores didn't have them. That's when I love a big city. The hard-to-find can often be close by or in reasonable driving distance.

Regarding advancing or retarding my cam, once I've established TDC, how do I know what figures I'm aiming for?

What cam do you have?
Do you have a cam card?

You can find tutorials online, but basically you find the center of the intake lobe. Change the timing to put that where you want it - advance for more low end power (and a narrower powerband), retard for a wider powerband and more high end power (not recommended for the slant).

Nothing special, just a stock cam. Was flipping through the FSM for cam specs, but wasn't finding them. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong section....