JD1964

We're slapping together an engine for a 79 Malibu wagon. It's a 350 4bolt main roller cam block with vortec heads. The donar cam for this engine will be the stock LT1 cam I pulled from my 96 C4 when I did a recent cam swap. I'll be pairing it 1.6 full roller rockers and the net lift will be .490 or there about.

My question comes to cam timing. I have available a double roller chain and gear set that has the extra keyways in the crank gear. I'm wondering if I should set the stock LT1 cam in an advanced position. The crank gear has +4 degrees. -4 degrees and straight up options. I was thinking of putting the crank at -4, thereby resulting in the cam at a 2 degree advanced position. We're looking for strong bottom end.

This is a carb application with hi rise air gap intake and long tube headers and HEI distributor. TH350, 2000 stall, 3.73 rear.

I'm happy to hear opinions on my options with the crank keyways and what different settings would do.

Thanks.