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What to adjust cam gear to with B cam?

leadermoose

Active member
Joined
Oct 14, 2022
Location
Hillsboro, OR
I have a B cam and a STS adjustable cam gear in my b230f 8v.
I am just wondering what I should set my adjustable cam gear to so that the car is timed correctly. Currently it's at 7 degrees advanced (which I've been told by multiple people is a lot), and I was just wondering what it should actually be at. I've been told be a few people to just set it to zero, but at this point I don't really know. When we first put the cam in, we set it to I'm pretty sure 9 degrees advanced (honestly idk what we set it to, but we just set it to the same thing as my dad's car that has an A cam in it.) The car did run last time we started it, but it was very choppy (could just be the B cam choppiness). I know I need new engine mounts, which probably doesn't help with the amount of engine rock, but it seemed like a lot of shaking. Help/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

This is currently what it's set to:
(sorry for the extremely zoomed in picture, TB hates when I upload pictures)
20240322_160914.jpg
 
Please remember that each of those marks is 2 crank degrees, which is what you're dealing with when people say "it's 2 degrees advanced" or "it's 4 degrees advanced". Basically what I'm saying is move it one mark at a time.
That is good to know, because I definitely thought each mark was one degree.
 
stock engine?
non turbo?
auto trans then advance it slightly.
manual trans straight up is usually best for A and B.
 
CT tuning did dyno tests with different standard camshafts on a unmodified 530 head. Volvo did a good job and there is no need to adjust the cam angle on a stock engine. If you want to change the power curves you should do so by changing cams.
The B cam is nice and it should not be choppy. Try a standard cam gear, you won't be doing any magic tricks with the adjustable cam gear.
 
I have a B cam and a STS adjustable cam gear in my b230f 8v.
I am just wondering what I should set my adjustable cam gear to so that the car is timed correctly. Currently it's at 7 degrees advanced (which I've been told by multiple people is a lot), and I was just wondering what it should actually be at. I've been told be a few people to just set it to zero, but at this point I don't really know. When we first put the cam in, we set it to I'm pretty sure 9 degrees advanced (honestly idk what we set it to, but we just set it to the same thing as my dad's car that has an A cam in it.) The car did run last time we started it, but it was very choppy (could just be the B cam choppiness). I know I need new engine mounts, which probably doesn't help with the amount of engine rock, but it seemed like a lot of shaking. Help/advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

This is currently what it's set to:
(sorry for the extremely zoomed in picture, TB hates when I upload pictures)
View attachment 26684
Hey, I just got off the phone with STS today and they said that every notch is half of a degree, so you’re only at 3 degrees advance. I just got a B cam in my 240 last week and I’m playing around with the timing too to find the sweet spot.
 
Hey, I just got off the phone with STS today and they said that every notch is half of a degree, so you’re only at 3 degrees advance. I just got a B cam in my 240 last week and I’m playing around with the timing too to find the sweet spot.
He doesn't know what he's talking about, sorry, every tick mark is 2 crank degrees.

Let's do the math, from valley to valley (1 tooth) there is just almost 10 tick marks. There's 38 teeth on the cam wheel. 360 ÷ 38 is 9.47, so that means that each tooth is 9.5° of camshaft rotation. This shows that each tick mark is 1° of camshaft rotation. The crank rotates 720° for every 360° of cam rotation, and the only valve/cam event that's measured in cam degrees is lobe separation angle. Each tick mark is 2°.
 
In very simple terms one degree of cam change equals 2 on the crankshaft. Usually on the cam gears the marks are in one degree increments on that style of gear.
 
Hey, I just got off the phone with STS today and they said that every notch is half of a degree, so you’re only at 3 degrees advance. I just got a B cam in my 240 last week and I’m playing around with the timing too to find the sweet spot.
Actually, cookieboy is right. My dad has STS's (I don't know his name) phone number, and he confirmed that each mark is half a degree.

They are correct in saying that each tick mark is 1deg of camshaft angle, which is correct.

But....

We (the engine tuning people) never talk in cam degrees, we always talk in crank degrees.

So...

He doesn't know what he's talking about, sorry, every tick mark is 2 crank degrees.

Let's do the math, from valley to valley (1 tooth) there is just almost 10 tick marks. There's 38 teeth on the cam wheel. 360 ÷ 38 is 9.47, so that means that each tooth is 9.5° of camshaft rotation. This shows that each tick mark is 1° of camshaft rotation. The crank rotates 720° for every 360° of cam rotation, and the only valve/cam event that's measured in cam degrees is lobe separation angle. Each tick mark is 2°.
^this is the correct way to look at it. Each tick mark is 2deg of crank angle.

I blame IPD and the early adjustable cam gears for this, it's been an issue of confusions for decades :lol:
 
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