How much do valve springs affect performance?

[NorCal66]

Well I dropped in my cam in late August, and foolishly didn't put in new springs while I was at it. I don't rev the engine high, and it's just a street/dd, but I'm wondering if having the lower tension springs is hurting my performance, even at lower rpms. I just read on a site that "As long as good matching valve springs are used with a good quality set of lifters, there's no reason a hydraulic cam can't do well on the street or the track..."
Cam specs changed from stock to the Edelbrock RPM (specs in sig), which is quite a big difference in lift. I always thought it was no big deal unless you started to rev it up, but if it's hurting my performance/milage/safety I guess I better get it done.
Thanks!

 

[6Stang7]

If the springs were not made for a cam with that much lift, then change them. The only real performance I can see being lost is reduction in redline. Some springs can't handle high lift cams because of the added amount of stress placed on them. For what you have ridding on the line, I would swap the springs.

-Shaun

 

[SuperDave]

If you don't have the appropriate valve springs, what's the p0int in having a performance cam? Weak valve springs will cause the valves to "float" if you expect any kind of performance.

Speaking of performance, I hope you changed the timing gear set also. Anything more than about 8 degrees lash in the chain WILL effect performance.