As a general rule, most camshafts prefer to be installed with ~4-6° of advance.  This helps to compensate for timing time stretch over the long haul as well as giving some additional low-end torque and an improved idle.  I have checked the cam timing on well worn Ford Y’s before disassembling them and one of those camshafts still had 6° advance even with a sloppy timing chain.  You can figure for at least 4-6° of cam timing change with a worn chain versus one that’s new.

There are those four-wheel drive applications where I have installed the camshafts 8-10° advanced knowing that these engines will need extra low end grunt for gully climbing on ranches at low rpm.  While there are those race engines that like a given amount of camshaft advance to compensate for timing chain elasticity, most of those engines do get the camshafts installed in the ‘straight up’ position.  Keep in mind that straight up refers to the actual cam timing and nothing to do with the line up marks on the gears.  Simply aligning the marks on the gears and not checking the camshaft means that the marks are aligned but the camshaft can still be out of phase from where it was intended.  Chain stretch over the long haul is usually not an issue to worry about in a race engine so the camshafts in those applications are not being advanced to compensate for that.  In this shop it’s very rare to install a camshaft straight up (where the intake lobe centerline and the exhaust lobe centerline are equal each other) for a street application.  I typically order most camshafts with 2° of cam advance built in which equates to 4° at the crankshaft.  This eliminates the need to modify crank/cam gears to move the camshaft as much to get that desired 4° of advance when degreeing those camshafts in.

You are still dealing with manufacturing variances when degreeing in a camshaft and for that reason, the camshaft must be checked.  Those manufacturing variances are not only with the camshaft itself but also with the cam gear, crank gear, and the crankshaft key location.  Relying on just aligning the gear marks and calling it good has found some camshafts as much as eighteen degrees off and that’s been both in the advanced and retarded positions.  When all the variances are either all positive or all are negative, that’s when you have stack ups and the amount of cam timing error becomes compounded.  While the Rollmaster timing sets do give nine different positions to fine tune that camshaft position, I’ve found that a majority of those like to be in one of the retarded positions to get the desired amount of cam advance.  Just installing those in the ‘zero’ position has many of the camshafts I’m using having too much installed advance.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I don't have the E4, but it probably is one of the most discussed camshafts, if not the most, on this forum.

Pinto - thanks, should have just given you a quick phone call… forgot you had one too.

Blacktie - what did you get when you installed your E-4?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Dan, it was 2013, but I think I had to install mine 4 degrees retarded.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Others have addressed the issues with degreeing the Isky E4 cam on this forum, including Ted Eaton. Is your E4 cam a custom grind? The off-the-shelf E4 has a 108 LSA and installed/w 106 Intake Lobe Centerline, in which case you're pretty close at 105.

For those of you that have installed and degreed this cam - is it pretty common for the E4 to be advanced from its advertised spec of 108 degrees if installed straight up? I realize that tolerances can stack among engines and different components. When I degree this camshaft I continue to get a lobe centerline of 105 degrees. I reckon I should move off  #1 cylinder and check #6 to be sure, but was wondering what others of you have encountered with a cam that is pretty common off the shelf these days. I decided to install this one because I had a new one still in the box from years ago and it gives me something to tinker with before I get my 312 together. (more on that later )

I am using a Rollmaster adjustable set and started my degreeing process straight up just to see where the cam is at.

EDIT: 108 degrees... not the 112 originally stated.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com