[donraye]

Anyone out there know if I really need to use a degree wheel to check the cam timing or not. I have read a few articles and book segments on building a SBF and none of them so far have used this method. They all simply say to line up the keyways on the crank and cam to the 6:O'clock and 12 O'Clock positions with the #1 piston at TDC and that will set the timing correctly. Is this true or not? They also do not mention anything about using pushrod checkers (?). They just install the atandard length pushrods and then check to make sure that the rollers on the roller rockers are height adjusted to make the path they take over the valve tips in the center of the tip and the arc as equal as possible on both sides of the stud. Then find zero lash and give it 1/2 turn more. Any comments on that mehtod vs. pushrod checkers?
Also: I talked to both the engine builder at Keith Craft and at T&L engines and they both said that the "main girdle" is really only good for "making you feel beter" and it "really does not do much other than that" in their oponion.
Any comments on that observation? I want to do it right but also as simply as possible to get it right.
Don