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Engine Mechanical TopicsDiscussion for motor builds, cams, head work, stripped bolts and other engine related issues. The good and the bad. If it goes round and around or up and down, post it here.
I should see my camshaft by the end of the week, but when the engine gets put together, I want to make sure that all is good with the cam that I had custom made and I know that the only real way to do it is to Degree the cam. I have never done this but I am confident that I will be able to do it if I can find some good reading material (i.e. books) to read. How many here have done this to a Harley engine? How did you go about doing it? Who knows of some good reading material that is available directly related to Harley Engines? Thanks!
I made a fixture to holds dial indicator that bolts down to engine case instead of tappet covers. This allows me to read directly off cam lobe. I use another fixture when heads are removed to indicate TDC or I use a piston stop in the plug hole. Degree wheel on crank.
Not all chain drives are made equal. Gear drive is better, but.......
Degreeing a cam is the same no mater what the motor is.. (providing it has a cam)
Put a degree wheel on the cranks. Find TDC and set a pointer to 0. One of the better ways to 0 the wheel is to put an indicator on the pistons and measure some distance before and after TDC making sure the degree wheel reads the same both BTDC and ATDC.
Indicator on the lifter. HD uses 0.053 lifter lift for twincams and before..
Last edited by Max Headflow; Oct 12, 2017 at 12:20 PM.
Degreeing a cam is the same no mater what the motor is.. (providing it has a cam)
Put a degree wheel on the cranks. Find TDC and set a pointer to 0. One of the better ways to 0 the wheel is to put an indicator on the pistons and measure some distance before and after TDC making sure the degree wheel reads the same both BTDC and ATDC.
Indicator on the lifter. HD uses 0.053 lifter lift for twincams and before..
Ok, but would it not be best to use a flat tappet instead of hydraulic lifter for this due to bleed down?
Edit. Nevermind,
Last edited by TontoTonto; Oct 12, 2017 at 04:45 PM.
Used to have a dedicated Shovel set-up to check those cams, back in the day.
Bruce's photo reminds me of that.
Some we checked we off as much as 5-6-7 degrees.
Those cam gears were simply pressed off/pressed on to correct.
Scott
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Degreeing My Cam
