I have done some reseach on this and have been reading mixed answers, so here's my question. I am building a b20/v, I have brand new skunk2 tuner2's that I am putting into a B18C5 head, Skunk2 valve springs, and a itr IM. I plan on using the RS machine pistons, the 84.5mm ITR piston they make. Now with those pistons and those cams, what kind of degreeing do I have to do? Some say none at all, let the tuner do it on the dyno, others say it's an improtant part of engine building. Any advice would be great, thanks.

 

damn, know body knows? Do I just throw these things in and set them at zero on the cam gears, or do i have to degree them in?

 

good question.... im doing almost the same set-up except using wiseco pistons.... this is a question i want to know the answer too as well.

 

Put them in at 0-0.
Take it to the dyno and adjust accordingly.

 

X2, agreed

 

forreal? that makes my life easy, so when would you need to "degree in" cams? The head has been milled like .004

 

I found the best settings on my b20vtec for the tuner2's were +2 on the intake and -3 on the exhaust.
I however was running close to 13.0CR, and at 84.5mm x 89mm. I just recently upgraded to pro2's

I was compenstate for a milled head that was closer to .050 tho.
I'd suggest, only because i've played with every way possible with these cams, they like to have the intake advanced and the exhaust retarded, but not too much..
+1 or 2 on the intake is usually goin to prove the best on the tuner2's and usually anywhere from 0 to -3 on the exhaust.

You can leave em to 0/0 as everyone else stated and probably be fine, hook up your timing light to make sure your dead on, with some milling you might have to compensate by adding the intake cam to +.5 or even go a whole degree for the timing.

 

doesn't skunk2 send a spec sheet?

 

yeah they do ^ but i have seen otheres threads were people have said skunk2 has changed them or updated them, i plan to call them. And thank you ALL MOTOR for your advice ;-)

 

yep yep

 

Okay so I guess my question now is, is degreeing cams more for performance or clearance? I just did not want to start my engine and blow it. I'll set them at 0-0 and have the tuner adjust them. safe? yes, no?

 

agreed, install and time them at 0-0. when you get it on the dyno you need a good baseline, after that you can play a lil with the cam timing........my guess is that since they are pretty mild cams......there wont be much of a change. changing cam timing usually doesnt net you much MORE power, it just moves the power around. advancing cam timing moves the power lower in the RPM range(advance=things happen sooner), retarding it moves it higher in the rom range(retard=things happen later).....and since these engines have 2 cam gears, you can play with different timing between intake and exhaust which helps you fine tune.

 

true, actually degreeing cams is a somewhat involved process where you measure that specs of the cam(advertised cam specs are always more aggressive than the actual specs) this is why actual cam lobe duration specs are given at .050" or i think sometimes at 1mm lift.

so degreeing is measuring all of the cam specs to be sure it is what it is......then when you change the timing, some of those specs change.

there is alot of math that can be done when building an engine before you even touch the engine and this math will let you know how much cam you need/want. tyoe of valvetrain, etc......

 

I found that 98% of your experience with the Tuner 2 cams was the same as mine. Except that mine like it most at I+2, E-1.