Cam Install Question

An update, I really struggled to get this Lunati Voodoo solid lifter cam degreed in, mostly because my brain didn't want to accept what my numbers were showing me.

The cam lift and duration did check out spot on perfect, but in order to get the recommended intake lobe center as well as opening and closing numbers right, I had to set the Cloyes 9 position at the keyway marked 6 degrees retarded!!! I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, or not understanding what was in front of me.

I made a piston stop strap to bolt to the block, so I could make absolutely sure of my actual TDC. So in this process I installed/removed/re-installed the strap and removed and re-installed my degree wheel way too many times, before my brain accepted that "6 degrees retarded" was actually giving me the "straight up" numbers listed on the cam card!!!

I talked with Steve Slavik at Lunati today about this. We couldn't figure out whether the cam keyway was off, or the Cloyes notches, or just a matter of stacked tolerances ...or all the above!!

Steve said having done this for so many years, he still was amazed at how much over-studying and over-thinking guys do trying figure this cam thing out ... when the best thing is to simply call the cam gurus and get their help.

As a side note:
I went with this cam because I had decided I definitely wanted to run a Harold Brookshire design, and his last cam designs were the Lunati Voodoo line after his years with Ultradyne and Comp. He was the master by all accounts. And I appreciated the advice from Steve. He had worked with Harold for a long time and really seems to know his stuff.