The cams are now as good as I can get them, but that's the toughest job I've tried on a 3.0L. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> It's MUCH more work than it should be to dial in the cams. I've installed the lead cam at 0* and rolled the trailing cam 5* advanced. Everything appears to be on the open/close numbers, and surprisingly, the dots on the sprockets are dead on the timing marks. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> The lead cam is at 114.5* C/L and the trailing cam is at 115* C/L. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I did check another rocker and found the first one to be fine. The issue is with the shimming system I tried to use with a hydraulic lifter rack. I used a feeler gauge to take up slack between the jerry-rigged now-solid lifter and the cam lobe. With a shim too thin, the dial indicator reads late-opening/early closing.... as expected. With a shim slightly too thick, the reading goes whacky - usually close to the correct opening point, but very late closing. The big issue is the difference made by only .0005" - and I don't have a set of .0005" differential feeler gauges. I finally realized that if the opening was 4* late and the closing was 4* early.... and the next .001" shim caused the readings to go crazy, the points would likely be very close to spec if a 'tweener shim was used to take up the last .0005" of slack. It's amazing how much difference a very slight amount of slack can make in the readings.

It would be a little easier with a solid lifter adjustable rack - and I suppose the hydraulic system was never designed to to be checked like I did, but it's about as good as I can get it. I even found a difference in the readings when the weather dropped 20* overnight. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

Frank