One of the things you find out real quick when building a max-effort engine for the street is that the cost of quality parts really adds up. We’re feeling that with our 509-ci big-block that we call the “Pile Driver.” We’re taking it to the dyno tomorrow, and one feature we’ll be happy to have on board is our COMP Cams adjustable timing set.
When you spend top dollar for good cylinder heads, strong internals, a dead-on camshaft, and all the other induction parts, there’s an increasingly large power difference between what you get when the cam timing is right on, and a little off. Think about that for a minute: if you’re skimping on heads, intake, carb, exhaust, camshaft, or any other key induction part, there’s not going to be a lot of power difference between “right on” and “in the ballpark,” because it’s just not that critical.
For our engine, however, we’re playing for keeps. Our killer Trick Flow 320 heads, single-plane intake, Vizard-spec’ed COMP solid roller cam, and Holley Dominator HP Ultra carb are capable of heroic power levels, so having the right tweak to the cam timing could be important. And after spending all that ching on those good induction parts, it wasn’t that big a leap to spend the extra dough ($182.75 from Summit) for the adjustable timing set (part No. 3149KT for Gen VI big-block) from COMP Cams.
Key features for the COMP timing set include induction hardened steel billet gears for bullet-proof durability, an infinitely adjustable camshaft sprocket with six degrees maximum advance/retard, a three keyway crank sprocket for an additional four degrees of incremental adjustability, a pre-stretched, heat-treated double roller chain with a heavy-duty large-pin design, and a Torrington roller trust bearing to reduce friction.
We’ll be going into our dyno session with the ability to quickly fine-tune the cam timing, which will be made even easier with our two-piece COMP Cams timing cover (part No. CCA-217, $249.95 from Summit). We’ll be able to tweak the cam timing on the dyno without removing the oil pan, which will save on dyno time and allow us to get the most from our dyno session. If you’re building a serious street piece, we strongly recommend both the two-piece timing cover and adjustable timing set.
Source:
COMP Cams
www.compcams.com
800-999-0853