DIY Cam Timing Adjustment

Can adjusting the cam gear be done by yourself. and I mean safely without having to dyno it?

It can be done, and it can be done safely. The real question is if you will gain or lose HP, that's why you need the dyno.

That's true, but since dyno here is expensive--only one shop here has dyno, and they charge you so much because of it--DIY seems to be the only alternative.

You need a dyno to see if your making hp gains or losses.

i think you would be safe for now if you just did it yourself, just so the car ran. I dont think it could do anything that harmful really.

For every degree you retard or advance your timeing you have to double that amount to your ignition timing so say you advance your cam gear 3 degrees you have to advance your ignition timeing (with a timing light) by 6 degrees.

Thanks for the replies! So, how do you exactly advance or retard timing? I see those hexagonal nuts on the gear itself--which way is it to advance and retard?

Coming from a purely mechanical point of view - Advancing would be turning the gear in the direction of motion, retarding would be going against the direction of motion. So if you look at it while it running, right before it starts or stops, you can tell whitch way its turning, then make note. They do make gears that make this alot eaiser, some of them have degrees marked off on the gears.
But since you don't have these, I would suggest you mark off the point its at now, so if you screw it up, you can go back. Just take a marker or some whiteout and mark across the bolt and the gear so you have something to line it up with later.

HTH
Buzz1167