If you’ve ever degreed a cam, you’ve likely used the metal coat hanger wrapped around a bolt as a degree wheel pointer before. If you’ve somehow never had to deal with that flimsy setup when degreeing a cam, you have lived a blessed life. While it is “close enough” for most people, if you really want to be precise, you need a better pointer than a coat hanger. We’re going to show you how to make one for about the cost of a meal at McDonalds

The Problem

Most degree wheel kits include all of the things you need to accurately degree a camshaft. However, when it comes to the timing pointer, there is a lot left to be desired. Included in the kit is usually a glorified coat hanger, which has a eye bent into one end that makes it easier to bolt to an accessory bolt on the front of the engine. You are meant to simply bend it into place and then bend it to make adjustments.

However, there are several issues with that setup. The first is that bending the wire accurately is a challenge. It always seems to be just a little off, thanks to the nature of a springy metal wire. That challenge often leads to “good enough.” The second is the thickness of the wire. On a smaller degree wheel, the wire’s diameter itself can be more than a full degree of width. While that can be mitigated by reading the edge of the wire, or filing a point on it, the wire’s size can still lead to inaccuracies.

As you can see here, the thick wire pointer isn’t nearly as precise, and is still flexible and a pain to get bent just right. Going to a thinner wire for more precise readings only exacerbates the rigidity problems.

You can use a smaller wire, like welding rod or baling wire, but that only exacerbates problem three: an unstable base. A wire moves around a lot. When you’re spinning the crank and degree wheel, the chances of you altering the location of a bent wire, especially a thin one, is very high.

Also, we’ve back-to-back degreed a cam using a wire setup and a precise pointer setup, and gotten two separate results, a degree and a half or so off. That is enough of a difference to necessitate a change in cam timing, as most of our timing sets used are adjustable in two-degree increments.

The Solution

As with most parts in this hobby, the sky is the limit — it all depends on how much you want to spend. There are some incredibly precise, fancy pointer kits on the market, but they also cost a pretty penny. Worth it to some? Absolutely. But for the average enthusiast, that might only degree a cam once or twice a year? Probably not.

Fortunately for you, your author here is a fan of both extreme precision and a good deal. So, we’re going to show you have to make an extremely precise degree wheel pointer for under $20. The first thing you’ll need is a straight pick with a handle that is 3/8-inch in diameter, or narrower. We used this pick set from Amazon — the whole set is cheap enough, and the angled picks can allow for some flexibility in mounting position, with a little creativity.

As you can see, you don’t even need all of the arms included with the magnetic dial indicator base. The second arm has fine control as well as an additional point of articulation in it. If you wanted to get fancy, you could even use a more expensive articulated-arm dial test indicator base, although that would add about $10 to this budget project. In this particular application, the 90-degree pick in the kit could have also been used for a vertical reference point.

Then, we ran to Harbor Freight and picked up a magnetic indicator base. Designed for a standard dial indicator, the attachment has an opening for a 3/8-inch stem, which is why the diameter of the pick handle is so important. Smaller is fine, but larger is a no-go. You likely already have one of these, if you’re degreeing a cam, but it will be in use reading piston top dead center and your cam lobe’s peak lift. So, grab another one.

Then, you simply attach the magnetic base to the block, and lock the pick in place of the second, adjustable arm. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, you can use that second arm to make fine adjustments to the pointer location, too. It’s up to you. Now, before you ask, “What about aluminum blocks?” Well, that answer depends on how creative you want to be.

You can either bolt on a piece of flat steel for the magnetic base to clamp on, or thread a piece of steel to bolt onto the block, and then unscrew the main bar from the magnetic base and screw it into the hole you drilled and threaded into the steel. Or, if you want to get really fancy and overcomplicated (as your author is sometimes prone to doing), you can 3D-print a base to catch the accessory holes in the front of the block, and then use a heat-set thread insert in it to accept the threads on the base of the main rod.

But, in its base form, this setup is sturdy, precise (even with the smallest degree wheels), and under $20 — even cheaper if you shop sales.