How to Degree a Cam: How to Fit a Degree Wheel
Watch This Course
$49 USD $24.50 USD
-OR-
Or
8 easy payments of only $3.06
Instant access. Easy checkout. No fees.
How to Fit a Degree Wheel
06.11
| 00:00 | - In this module, we're going to have a look at what's required in order to fit the degree wheel to the crankshaft of your engine. |
| 00:06 | Obviously one of the key requirements when it comes to degreeing our camshaft. |
| 00:11 | Now for this module, we are going to be using our Moroso degree wheel. |
| 00:16 | As we've mentioned in the main body of the course, when it comes to a degree wheel it is important to use as large a diameter degree wheel as you can. |
| 00:24 | The larger the diameter of the degree wheel, we find this improves the resolution when we're reading the degree wheel, because as we move further away from the centreline of the degree wheel, the distance between the degree markings on the edge of the degree wheel gets greater. |
| 00:41 | This makes it easier for us to be more accurate when we are reading our pointer on the degree wheel. |
| 00:47 | While fitting the degree wheel to the crankshaft might seem like a really straightforward job, there are a couple of tips and tricks we need to keep in mind to ensure we get the best results when reading the degree wheel, as well as to ensure that the degree wheel itself isn't damaged during the installation process. |
| 01:03 | One of the key points is to ensure that when the degree wheel is fitted to the crankshaft that it is concentric with the crankshaft. |
| 01:12 | This means that when we rotate the crankshaft, there's going to be no wobble at the outside diameter of the degree wheel which can affect the location of our pointer and our ability to really accurately locate that pointer onto the outside diameter of the wheel and make accurate readings. |
| 01:29 | What we need to do this is a spacer or an adapter that will locate our degree wheel concentrically on the crankshaft. |
| 01:37 | In some installations or some common performance engines, we may be able to purchase specific adapters, these are available for example for the GM LS series of V8. |
| 01:48 | And these make the installation really easy. |
| 01:50 | The adapter locates in the key way of the crankshaft and then the degree wheel locates onto the adapter. |
| 01:57 | Makes it really easy to also adjust the orientation of the degree wheel when we are finding true TDC. |
| 02:05 | In most instances though we can use a simple adapter, and we've got a couple here. |
| 02:10 | These adapters include a step on the adapter which locates to the inside diameter of our degree wheel and the hole through the centre of our adapter is the same diameter as the outside diameter of the front crank bolt. |
| 02:25 | Now if all of those diameters are correct, this is going to make sure that our degree wheel runs concentrically with the crankshaft. |
| 02:33 | Now in this case the adapters that we have here came from Moroso with our degree wheel. |
| 02:40 | However if you don't have the correct adapter for your particular crank bolt diameter, it is easy enough to have a local machine shop make some of these up for you. |
| 02:50 | So that's our first task is to make sure that we have the correct adapter to make sure that the degree wheel will run concentric with our crank bolt. |
| 02:58 | Now in most instances we will be fitting the degree wheel directly to the snout of the crankshaft while we're going through the process of degreeing the camshaft. |
| 03:08 | However in the case of our Moroso degree wheel, we also have a series of three holes that can be used to locate the degree wheel directly to a harmonic dampener or front crank pulley if we want to fit the degree wheel while that pulley is still located on the engine. |
| 03:25 | In this case, we're going to be looking at fitting the Moroso degree wheel onto our Honda B18C, although the general concepts we've been talking about here, are applicable to any engine. |
| 03:36 | Before we start fitting the degree wheel, what we've done is we've timed our engine so that it is currently on TDC on compression stroke on number one cylinder. |
| 03:46 | We don't have to be absolutely accurate here, we're just simply using the factory timing marks to align this. |
| 03:52 | This gives us a reference point when we are aligning the TDC point on our degree wheel. |
| 03:58 | The other aspect we need to be really careful of is to ensure that when we are fitting the degree wheel, it isn't going to foul or contact on anything behind it. |
| 04:07 | In some instances we may need to space the degree wheel out slightly. |
| 04:11 | And in this case the water pump pulley on our B18C does come very close to the degree wheel so we're going to be using one of our aluminium spacers on the back of the degree wheel and one in the front. |
| 04:23 | So let's go ahead and we'll fit that now. |
| 04:52 | So at this point, I've only done up the degree wheel finger tight. |
| 04:55 | I've made sure that the aluminium spacer is correctly located in the inside diameter of our degree wheel, again to simply make sure that the degree wheel is concentric with our crankshaft. |
| 05:07 | Before tightening the degree wheel down, what I want to do is locate our TDC mark somewhere near to where I'm going to be placing my pointer. |
| 05:15 | Now again this is going to depend from one engine to another on exactly what's available. |
| 05:21 | In this case we will be making a simple wire pointer so all I'm looking for here is a location on the block where I can bolt or tighten down this wire pointer. |
| 05:30 | In this case we've got a convenient M6 bolt hole on our cylinder head, and this is where I'm going to be locating our pointer. |
| 05:38 | So with our TDC mark somewhere close to that bolt hole, I can now tighten down the crank pulley. |
| 05:46 | It's important to tighten the crank pulley just to ensure that during the degreeing process when we are turning the engine over that the degree wheel doesn't come loose. |
| 05:55 | And in order to do this I'm just going to be using a battery impact gun. |
| 06:02 | So there's our degree wheel fitted to the crankshaft on our B18C. |
| 06:06 | As you've seen, it is a simple process but it is one that's important that we carry out correctly. |
