Cam Swap Question

[snowmangaggift]

Thinking of swapping my cam to a more aggressive one, but I am worried of messing up the timing etc.. and causing the engine to run like crap. I love how the engine is running now. If I were to mark my dist. and remove the timing cover and put dot to dot and just make sure everything goes back together just as it was just with the new cam in there, Do you think it will run okay? or am I totally missing something.
Thanks

 

[Fox80]

When you change the cam in a motor you change the way it runs, you may in some ways change the amount of timing advance it will take or the speed it will want it to advance, I always drop the dist in with the balancer at 30 degrees and the mechanical advance held open that way I know that when it fires I don't have to mess around with a light while your trying to break the cam in. But that takes practice the dist doesn't fire in the center of the plug wire tab, if you want to do this you should unhook your vacuum advance, plug the hose, see what the timing is at when idling then at around 3,000 rpm's so you can set it the same after the cam change. A cam should be degreed in when installed as most of them need to be adjusted to make them right, but that is up to you most DIY guys don't degree a cam they just put it in straight up and take what they got

 

[GuysMonteSS]

Something else to consider is that piston to valve clearance will change.If you put a more agressive cam,it could possibly reduce p to v clearance.It is recommended to check this measurement any time cam specs change.
Guy