Pull the timing chain cover, pull the cam gear, buy a set of cam advance/retard bushings (CLICK HERE), drill out the cam dowel locating hole on the cam gear, install the zero bushing, degree the cam, install whatever offset bushing you need, reinstall the timing chain cover, be done with it.

No offset crank keys work on the slant, and that would be just as much work as the bushings, anyway. Very very few parts are specifically made for the slant six anymore. THis is why you see people adapting Ford coils, GM ignitions and transmissions, and other bits from other manufacturers to hop up the slant six.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

To pull the timing cover, engine in the car, you will want to loosen the first four or five bolts up front holding the oil pan on the block. This allows you to lower the front of the pan when removing or re-installing the timing cover.
If you used anything like RTV on the pan gasket, it will be easier to pull the engine.

It is really quite rare to end up with a cam that has a grind as far off as you are experiencing. You can check degree of the cam without taking things apart. I'd do that first.

Is your timing mark accurate? Slipped balancer rings are very common. Find TDC, and verify your looking at the right rotational point on your crank.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Ok guys a lil update here. Went ahead the other day and finally rebuilt my carb and it seems to have fixed most if not all its idling problem however a new problem has just randomly popped up. Never ends does it? Timing was checked at idle and it shows 5 degrees advanced weirdly enough so with the 4 degrees built in does that mean I'm running 9 degrees advanced? Anyway in to my new problem. I now have a knocking sound in the distributor area. It's intermittent though just randomly happening and spits and sputters when it does this. It runs this way more than it runs well. It wouldn't seem like it was a rod since it's not totally constant and all rod knock I've ever heard is constant.

So I've been thinking about what else is around that area that might cause a noise like that. There's the lifters and push rods. The cam gear and distributor gear as well as the oil pump gear. Oil pressure was great so no oil pressure issues. I didn't want to run it long that way for fear of hurting it further.

So what do you guys think? 1 guess is the cam gear is chewing up the distributor gear. I've heard of this happening when using a comp cam and the stock distributor gear but I wouldn't think it would make a knocking noise. I wouldn't think it would be a bent pushrod or anything since there's no chance of the piston hitting a valve with stock compression. I though about lifter noise but it's a solid lifter so I can't imagine it making a noise.

I'm not sure what to make of it. What are ya'lls ideas on this?

Anyone have any ideas on what this noise could be?

There is a misconception here.

The cam timing is based on valve events. Not on where your ignition timing is set. Grinding 4° of advance into a cam moves the valve events, not the distributor. When you time the ignition, you are doing so relative to the crank shaft. Not relative to where the cam lobes are.

If it's making noises, you will need to isolate those noises. We can make guesses, but there are a myriad of places such a noise could be from. Diagnosing an engine problem is not a virtual experience. Only you can put your hands on the engine to determine what is going on.

To begin, disconnect anything that might be the source. Run the engine to determine if the noise goes away. Did you install a new fuel pump? It runs on an eccentric. if the lobe it runs on is damaged, or the pump is worn out, it can make noises like that. The alternator can make noises like that. Rods and main bearings can make noises. valves can make noises.
I've torn down engines that had the rockers jammed by improper installation of the hold down clamps on the rocker shaft.

At the start of this, you said you have a freshly rebuilt engine. Define Rebuilt. Machine work, piston oversize, bearing clearances, taper, and so forth. Were the parts correctly torqued, clearance checked, and were the thrust movements checked?

What specifically was done, and who did the work? Who put the engine together? How was TDC located? Piston stop, or some other method?

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing