New Cam - do I need to degree it?

[747mopar]

Look. All this talk about degreeing cams seems like it's all nonsense, look at what 66 sat. said! "I couldn't see much perf difference with a 2* change, could at 4*." Now really, on a weekend cruzier, does it really matter, seriously?
Look at how many motors that have been put together thru out the decades by all 3 car makers that just threw them together and lined them up dot to dot. Has there ever, ever been a problem with them?
If your racing, yes do it. Otherwise, I don't see a reason for it. I've been studying on how to degree a cam for years and still don't understand how to do it, let alone trying to figure out what's right or wrong with it. Do what you want and good luck.

Having a brother close in age meant we grew up riding the same bikes (Dad would always buy identical bikes), it always seemed like one would run better than the other even though they were both brand new and identical? Same goes for just about anything and it's all in the details, maybe one had bad casting, maybe the mag was off a bit, etc? Point is if you don't check it you don't know, then when something isn't right you can't say the cam is spot on. Yes 99% of the time it will likely be fine, I admit I go overboard but I'm also confident when I button it up. Not knowing the details hurts you down the road when your diagnosing a problem so my approach is always cover all your bases.

As far as actually degreeing a cam goes or the cost.... the kit was inexpensive threw Summit and the instructions walked me right threw it. It's easier to understand if your actually doing it rather than just reading.

 

[66Satellite47]

Like I said degree it to know where you started. It can be used as one tool to change the power curve if you choose to. If you don't want any improvement, you still know where you started. Like someone stated earlier, most production lines toss them together & out the door, which is why some production cars run better than others. You care or you don't.

 

[Superb Bee]

I hear this debate all the time, I have seen the 1-2 off, cant think of one that was more than that, the lunati voodoos I have done are ALL ON THE SPOT.
That being said, I degree everytime I touch a timing set.

I also check pre gapped plugs, lol, if that isn't bull ****...