Cloyes Hex-A-Just System as Part of a Proper Camshaft Degreeing Process transcript

Hi, I'm Cody Smith, Tech Support Manager for Cloyes Gear and Products. In today's video we will be degreeing a camshaft to the manufacturer's intake centerline specification using our Cloyes high-performance Hex-A-Just system on a small-block Chevy engine. Our Hex-A-Just products are the top choice for professional racers. A Hex-A-Just set paired with our Z-Racing chain is the best choice for those extreme custom engine builds that demand no compromise.

You can identify Cloyes Z-racing sets by the "Z" suffix attached to the part number. The set we are using today is a 9-3100AZ. Cloyes offers the Hex-A-Just system for a variety of Chevrolet applications including small-block, big-block, and LS engines. You can download our Cloyes high-performance catalog on our Cloyes.comm website, or visit one of our many high-performance vendors for application lookup. The Hex-A-Just system gives you the ability to customize your torque and power curves to optimize your desired engine output utilizing the hex bushing to infinitely adjust cam timing to plus or minus six degrees.

It features heat treated billet steel sprockets, a premium True roller chain, or Cloeys Z-Racing chain, and is hand matched to ensure the correct center distance. Undersized sets for align honed or align bored applications, and extended link sets for raised cam applications are also available. In order to set the intake lobe centerline you will need some specialty tools. A dial indicator and fixture is necessary to measure camshaft lobe lift off the lifter.

A degree wheel with pointer is needed to measure crankshaft angle. And a piston stop will be necessary to find exact top dead center. These tools can easily be acquired in a kit from most high-performance vendors. Many of these kits offer additional tools and fixturing that allows this process to be done on engines with the cylinder heads installed. You can also perform this procedure with the Cloyes Quick Button Two-Piece Timing Cover installed and it's window removed.

For our demonstration we have the cylinder heads and timing cover removed for visibility. To start the degreeing process install the Hex-A-Just timing set at a predetermined setting per your camshaft requirements. For the purpose of this demonstration we are setting the hex bushing at zero degrees, and the 3-keyway crankshaft sprocket at the factory setting. For 3-keyway crankshaft sprocket details please watch our multi- keyway video.

The cam sprocket bolts should be snug, but not torqued at this time. Install your degree wheel with pointer, and the piston stop on the number one cylinder. Engage the stopping mechanism into the path of the piston. Now carefully rotate the engine clockwise until the piston hits the stop and record the reading from the degree wheel. We got 270. Next rotate the engine counterclockwise until it hits the piston stop again.

Then record that reading. With these two readings we can find actual top dead center. It will be the midpoint between the two numbers. Find the difference between the two numbers which in our case is 68. Divide that by two, then subtract that from after top dead center reading which was 338. This tells us that number one is at top dead center when our degree wheel is at 304 degrees. Remove the piston stop and rotate the crankshaft to the determined top dead center mark. 304 degrees in our case.

Then reset your degree wheel to zero or top dead center at this point. With the degree wheel now set correctly, we can shift our focus to the number one intake lobe of the camshaft. To check and adjust the intake center line of our camshaft, we will be using the intake centerline method which requires measuring 50 thousandths before and after maximum lift of the intake lobe. To do this mount your dial indicator and rotate the engine clockwise until you find the maximum lift point of the lobe by measuring off the lifter and set your dial indicator to zero at this point.

Now rotate the engine clockwise until you reach 50 thousandths on your dial indicator and record the reading from your degree wheel. We got 149. If you pass 50 thousandths, rotate the engine backwards past 50 thousandths and try again. Always approach your readings turning clockwise. This ensures the measurements are taken in the operational direction of rotation. Next rotate the engine counterclockwise passes zero and 50 thousands before maximum lift.

Then turn clockwise to the 50 thousands before reading on your dial and record the degree wheel reading. Ours is 64. Now take the average of the two degree readings. This is your current crankshaft top dead center to intake centerline angle. Ours is 106.5. If you came up with your desired setting then you are done. Remove the tools and torque your cam sprocket bolts. In our case we're at 106.5 and our cam manufacturer recommends the cam to be set at 108 degrees.

This means we must make an adjustment using the hex adjust feature of our timing set. To do this find the difference between the two degree readings and divide by two. This gave us 42.5 degrees. Now subtract that from your desired setting. Ours being a 108 degrees. This gave us a result of 65.5 degrees. This is telling us that if our crankshaft is at 65.5 degrees and our camshaft at fifty thousands before maximum lift.

Our cam would be set at 180 degrees intake centerline. To duplicate this on the engine, rotate the crankshaft 65.5 degrees loosen the camshaft sprocket bolts then turn the Hex-A-Just bushing until the dial indicator realigns to 50. This demonstrates the advantage of the Hex-A-Just system. Once at 50 thousandths re-tighten the sprocket bolts and then recheck the intake centerline. We already know one reading a 65.5. We just need to rotate the engine clockwise to fifty thousands after maximum lift to get the other reading.

We found it to be 150.5. Once we average the numbers out again we found that our cam is now time to 108 degrees from the intake centerline to number one top dead center. We are now ready to torque the sprocket bolts and continue engine assembly. The purpose of this video was to show both the proper camshaft degreeing process, and the advantage of the Hex-A-Just timing system as part of the process. The advantage is the ability to infinitely adjust within a plus or minus 6 degree window to the exact lift point at a particular crank angle.

This takes the guesswork out of fine-tuning your race engine. Thank you for watching. If you have any questions about our high performance products please call our tech line, and please subscribe to our Channel!