I personally have never seen a retarded set. I really think the cams were ground retarded. For the set to be retarded, the alignment dots will be out of line with either the cam dowel or the crank key. Ain't seen one yet that was like that
Yeah, I read somewhere that they did that on 429s after '72 or '73, but I didn't know about 302s. Thanks for the reply.
Good info, my 302 is a 74 so I will order a pre 72 timing chain to use along with my comp 268H cam... Thanks...
Get a timing set for any 80's-up 302 and look at the marks, none of these sets are retarded. The marks all in line with the cam dowel and crank key. Only with a multiple key crank sprocket can you retard the cam. Matter of fact, I doubt you can find a retarded set in any parts house today. Besides, who is still running an orignal 70's cam in their motor ?
The only way you will really know if the timing marks are off is to get out your degree wheel & ck it.
Not sure if this is relevant but I am in the process of building a 250. I told the machine shop about the retarded timing difference after 72. He thought the difference was in the cam. When I picked up my parts he told me the pre and post 72 called for the same cam but the timing sets had different part numbers. Not sure if the 302 is the same way.
I looked on O'Reillys site, they list a C3004K for the 73 302, C3014K for the 68 302 and C3057X for the 93 Cobra's 5.0. The first two are the thin link bar chain sets, not sure what the difference there is, but the 93 set is what you should run regardless of the first two, this is the double row, roller chain set which is far superior to the other two. And it IS a "straight up" set.
I did, still can't tell where the marks are in the top gear. Wait, now I can see it, a half tooth. Not much difference seems like when you see the multi keyway crank gears, where 4* is a lot farther.
