A good engine builder would check a phase of a crankshaft but we all just assume the other 14 lobes are phased properly.
Theoretically, it could also be the crankshaft's phasing.
Clearance is never a problem until things get too close. You will never know unless it's checked.
Its definitely the cam. You can "eyeball" down the length of the cam and see the cylinder 1 and 6 lobes are off from one another by about .100 at the center of the lobe. I suppose I could check 8 and 5 too. But if they did line up, that would only show that cylinder 1 is off. But, any of them off, I'm still bad.
When you have a new crank, I can see that being checked, this crank was run before. I checked piston to valve clearance, but only number 1. And when you do that, typically only the exhaust comes close.
Maybe from now on I'll check 1 against 6 when degreeing. But someplace along the line we all rely on some quality check somewhere. The jig on this cam had to have slipped, eh?
What made this such a tough deal is that I fought with these problems for a long time. It ran, it idled (although somewhat erratic), didn't rev very good, never past 4500. I did drive it locally, just never performed. Who would have thought?
