86 360 with the comp cam # 20 222-3,the engine is still on the stand.My worries is did the well know engine builder in my area goof the degree my cam or has the balance r slip.When i line it up at dot to dot with piston at # 1 the line on my balance r does not line up with 0 its more like 8atdc,hes says its set at 105 center line,also he said to get the specs right he had to use a 3 degree off sat key in the cam.

Cam position has nothing to do with balancer/TDC relationship.

Are you using a piston stop and rotating both directions to find TDC? What kind of pointer do you have?

Just going by eye no stop.

Verify TDC and check balancer.

balancer slipping is rare but does happen. As said it wouldn't hurt to get the cheap piston stop tool and check if the dampener slit is at TDC when the piston is at TDC but to keep it simple sam I would start with, are you looking at the right "mark" some of the aftermarket combos of dots/ovals/triangles/squares are confusing as they can be very similar & the ones closest to the keyway are to tell you which slot to use and the ones up by the teeth are the actual "dot" to use to get to "dot to dot". that cam has a 110 LSA and a 106 ICL. And 103 is 3 degrees advanced from 106. With more thought right now I think I would set the dampener at 10 before then hand bump the slot forward to TDC then see where the dots are at & get back to us. another thought, with the dots where they are at, are you then installing the t cover & dampener?

You don't degree the cam with the balancer.

Verify TDC with a positive stop.


TDC verification should have been done when the engine was assembled and correct at that point if it was wrong. That is the job of the assembler.


I've seen many balances have the outer turn on the inner hub. It's not rare and all brands of engines suffer from it when using and OE or OE type damper.

yes its what i notice when i was installing the timeing chain cover.

Cam timing is not done with timing marks on the damper. It's done with degree wheels and dial indicators. Damper to timing tab TDC is a basic check when assembling an engine. "Eyeballing" any of it won't work.

Ok got it,as said i did not do the degree it was done at the machins shop.I guess it was done right.just chacking.

Many general machine shops do not verify TDC on the balancers and some of them ASSUME that when they use the 4 degree advance slots on the crank gears that he cams are advanced 4 degrees instead of taking the time to VERIFY the cam timing in relation to TDC

consider yourself lucky. i see it all the time. occasionally on new ones, even. always check.

I've had it happen twice and I'm only 32. Once on a big block Mopar and once on a small block Ford; the Ford balancer was removed in two pieces it was so bad.

Don keep us updated on how it turns out.

Yes will do,its very cold now winter wont know how it runs till late spring.