Crankshaft keyway

[Katz427]

Well, I installed the new camshaft (Howard hydraulic roller ) in this 351 engine, and it did not degree properly. So now, I'm thinking that the TDC mark is wrong. Taking my (new) reading for TDC ,I find that the mark they used when assembling, was off by 8 degrees. I had to advance this new cam 8 degrees, to dial the cam in to spec. The previous cam was installed  dot to dot. Turns out the cam was actually 8 degrees retard, using the actual TDC, of the piston.
I can only think that the crankshaft keyway must be off, I have never had to do this before, usually everything is within less than 1 degree.

[blykins]

Could be anything.  Could be the cam, could be the crank, could be the timing set.  Could be all 3.

I’ve had it happen a few times before, you just correct it and go on.

[Chuck]

 I once put a crank kit in one of those without touching the distributor. It was down on power when I fired it up and upon checking the timing, found it retarded. Bumped it back to where we’d run it, but it was still down on power. To fix the issue had to advance the cam because the newer crank had its key cut retarded for emission purposes.