the machinist says that I should Deg the Cam neg -1 or -2 deg to get the best out of the light body mavericks it sounds good and looks good in the Dyno program thanks
it all depends on the camshaft, the intake tract, and the exhaust. For instance, I'm told that retarding the camshaft usually helps the top-end power, but advancing it will help the bottom-end power, especially with a restrictive exhaust. Another consideration will be piston-valve clearance...if I advanced mine 1 degree, there would be insufficient clearance, but that's to be expected when lifts get near the .700 range. Advancing and retarding is only a generality....many times the engine will react just the opposite, so you'll just have to go by trial and error.
Retard or not Just my thoughts on this, have experimented with this concept and found that you must also decide which type of performance you need. In retarding you will come up a bit short on bottom end and gain a bit on the top. Rear end gearing can compinsate for some of this and is a must in some cases to eliminate the sluggish off the line performance. Advancing will give you seat of the pants torque but run out of power band quicker. Again some gear changes in the rear can help on that also, there are just to many variables involved to accurately predict which will be best. If you could run an adjustable timing set-up on the cam drive then you could test each change for desired results. The cam mfg. settings are probably the best way to go, still must degree in the cam to make sure all specs are correct even when installing at 0 deg straight up. Street or racing or both will also need to be considered in this equation as will grade of fuel used etc. Had a 302 with hyd. Erson cam that was at 280deg and .512 lift, adv. it 4 deg and the basically stock engine ran hard, but would only pull to 5500. Set it back to 0 and gained 500 more rpm with little diff in quickness off the line. Trial and error is the best way to find what it will do unless you can spend time at a dyno shop, all out racing is where the advance or retard really is critical but for mostly everyday driving, I would go with the straight up setting, call the cam people and most will help solve the delima, they probably have researched both ways on the particular cam.
well its no longer a stock 351w took it 30 over its 11.3-1 comp with flat top pistons and Afr 185 heads 58cc chambers race flow valves.the cam is a comp cams retro Hyd roller 544 lift 290 dur.C4 tran TCI 3500 stall was geting about 3300 out of it with the old 351w 3.80 gears 26" tall tire
According to your listed setup, retarding might help, as (street type) low end is not important now, with a 3500 stall convertor.
