ooops sorry, got sidetracked.

Not a big deal IMHO, unless a build you are willing to make everything exactly spot on.

If you run out of cam on the big end as you say, then get a bigger cam. Seriously.

My cam is sized correctly, I guess I was looking for real world feed back on effects of a couple degrees. I think I'll leave them at 3 degrees advanced.

couple things,1/ if you are running out of cam how can your cam be sized correctly?2/ is it maybe you are running out of head?also,moving the cam 2 deg either way probibaly won,t be noticeable.

Mike,
I was generalizing, and talking about past engines rather than this one. I am running dart 308s on a 462 with a custom cam. I didn't mention names because I didn't want to get into it.
Thanks for your thoughts and input. Based on this feedback looks like I should be fine.

altering cam timing is just another tuning factory as long as you have piston to valve clearance to do so, advancing will give more lower end power, while retarding it sends the power in at a higher RPM, and yes it will also effect the H/P, just depends on heads/cam/intake etc. In drag race setups we would advance cam on good traction tracks and retard on slippery ones...now we do the same thru a computer and ignition timing...slightly easier

what king of et gain did you see from altering the cam timing at the track.my guess is very little.i will stand by my statement that in a pleasure boat the difference will not be notacible,in other words not even 1 mph.

we would retard to kill off a slight bit of power to be able to get down a iffy track, the only gain was being able to hook the car vs not, and yes on a boat retarding would only hurt a boat I would think

Never know unless you try.

I've seen guys swap out their current cams, for "custom" cams , that have less of a timing event change, than what advancing or retarding their current camshaft would have been.

Many things are going on withh camshafts. To suggest advancing a certain cam, will make more torque, is vague. Where ? From idle to 2500? From 2500 to 3500? From 3500 to 4500? Retarding a cam, to say that upper rpm power will be gained, is also vague. Just because you advance a cam, doesnt simply mean more torque, and just because you retarded it, doesnt mean more upper rpm power. It all depends on the individual applicstion.

A simple thing like a trick valve job, increasing low lift airflow, can change what the engine "wants" for cam timing. What may have been the "perfect" cam, is no longer perfect. I think we can argue theories on this all day, but the only way to tell if you made a change for the better, is on the dyno.

Who knows, depending on the current setup, you just might see an increase in peak torque, and peak horsepower. I wouldnt expect much on a 400hp engine. Things change though when you get into nearly 2hp per ci builds . Jmo.

Piston to valve clearance needs to be checked as others stated.