Herr Grady's info is 'bout what I was goin to say too.
I'd also want to make sure you don't have an asymmetrical cam - that could open a ton of poop. Or consider that some cams have some advance ground into them.
Remember that it's tough to know what a change will make. A simple dot to dot can often yield being retarded or advanced some degrees anyhow (tolerances stacking up), so it's tough to know where someone is at already.
With the stock 302 and Crower cam I had it retard 4*. The cam came on a lot later and loved high RPM's. I had to wind it out just to get the car moving. It was such a pain I switched it back to 0 a few days later.
That's what I needed to hear, some first hand experience. So you say you had to rev it high to get it going? That must've sucked. I guess it ain't worth the hassle.
Retarding the cam will usually help 1/4 mile times. It shifts the power band up so the car will pull harder at high rpm's, but you will be sacrificing low end torque. For a car mainly driven on the street I would leave it alone, especially with a vert. Also, whenever you change cam timing you should check piston to valve clearance. Seems like a lot work just to pick up a few hp if your engine's already built.
Retarding the cam will usually help 1/4 mile times. It shifts the power band up so the car will pull harder at high rpm's, but you will be sacrificing low end torque. For a car mainly driven on the street I would leave it alone, especially with a vert. Also, whenever you change cam timing you should check piston to valve clearance. Seems like a lot work just to pick up a few hp if your engine's already built.
If you figure most cams come on around 2800-3300 rpm. So by retarding the cam just 4 degrees it will move it up to around 3600-4000 rpm. So what I was experiencing is I was not even getting the full potential out of the cam because the rev limiter would kick in first. Like the above post mentions if you have a vert don't sacrifice the low end torque, its not worth it.