What are the limits to advancing a camshaft and what is the most some of the experienced builders have advanced a cam? If you have the P/V clearance, is it out of the ordinary to advance a cam 10 degrees from what it is cut at? Pros/cons of it I understand, just looking at what the limits are and what guys have seen or used.

*Not an expert opinion. Advancing a cam opens the valves earlier. I think it adds more low RPM torque while trading off some higher RPM horsepower. Getting my popcorn while waiting for a real expert to come online.

I would say ten degrees would be out of the ordinary.

Four is quite common but unusual to see much more than that.

My guess is that if the cam needed that much advance it really needs a different cam.

^^^This
If the cam is better/faster @ +10°:
1. the cam is too big
2. not enough static CR

That is why I am asking! stand by for the experts....It does seem excessive, but would there be a situation where the engine would benefit from it without getting another cam?

Four is common, I agree, but why would they make timing chains with up to 8 degrees built in if it is uncommon to do? Thanks for the replies and help with this

It often takes more or less than a four degree adjustment for the cam actually to be installed at four degrees advanced. .

I have advanced one cam 10* but if you do need to know that when you do advance it you will lower
the rpm.. I gained torque but lost rpm which I needed... that cam I moved it like 6 times advancing it
each time then moved it back based on rpm needed

exactly! if you have to advance a cam that much then it's just the wrong cam. for me, if the cam needs more advance than what is ground into it i look for something else.

I can’t really think of a situation where I would “choose” to run a cam 10* advanced from the “straight up”(int & ex c/l equal to lsa) position.
In other words, a 110lsa cam installed at 100......108lsa in at 98, etc.

I have had to move the cam more than 10* before to put it where I wanted it, but the installed position still wasn’t 10* + or - from the lsa.

I’m not saying it “couldn’t” work, I just can’t think of a normal Mopar v8 build where that would end up being optimum.

Advancing the cam will close the intake earlier, creating more cylinder pressure. In theory we would all advance cams earlier and earlier to gain pressure/power. But the overlap events critical to head flow get outa whack. I have personally run cams as early as 96* intake lobe center. Better check intake valve to piston if attempting this. Never really affected the et by more than a tenth or two.

A tenth of two....... better or worse?

A tenth of two can represent a fairly significant change in power.

Before the NHRA allowed porting in SS, I knew some guys that had engine combos with pretty weak heads that ran cams installed in the mid/upper-90’s int c/l.
But....... they weren’t installed all that far advanced.
They had cams that were 102-104lsa.

One of the Ford circle track racers we worked with was playing with some pretty tight lsa’s...... like around 100*....... installed at 95-96.
Those things made fantastic mid-range tq........ but they didn’t hang on all that well.

All kinds of cams, engines. The one I remember it helping was a cam with a lobe sep angle of 112.

I’ve never done it....... and don’t think I would....... but it would be interesting to know the whole combo on something where that worked.

the only reason I can think of to advance a cam something like 10 degrees is if it has retard ground into it. there are some factory smog cams that have retard ground into them. the stage 2 wedge cam is recommended to be advanced 8 degrees but for some reason, and I could be wrong, I think they may have a couple of degrees retard ground into them. I've noticed that some older profiles (and it seems like lobes with longer closing ramps) may have 5 degrees ground into them. I have advanced cams with 108lsa a couple of degrees but that still ended up being 4 degrees total and I wouldn't go any further.

This motor has iron heads (same motor with intake/heads not fitting issue we fixed by grinding it on four corners) and the guy putting it together called comp cams with the spec sheet while he was degreeing it in. They said good to go. He has a ton of circle track experience with building motors, mostly bowties, and has done it in the past. Cam is a xs290s solid with 110* lsa. He put it in at 99* and me not knowing [censored] thought that was a lot too...

I guess we will find out how it runs when the virus starts to slow down.

as i am not an expert, doesn't a lot of this confusion stem from the cam manufacturers advertising "x degrees advance ground in" ?
i also remember a magazine article from 25+ years ago, state to advance and retard the cam x degrees, plus try straight up, and whichever position produces the most cylinder pressure, that is where that cam will work the best.
you obviously need to check valve to piston clearance before and after TDC.

If you are a motor trend on demand member they just posted an episode last week about this very thing, on a 440 Mopar even. It wasn't a race motor by any means, it was a cleaned up stock 440 motorhome engine with a cam and 7.5"1 compression.

Imo, the motor is still out of the car and tracks aren’t opening for a little while yet....... so there is no rush.
Move the cam now while it's still easy.

Anecdotal story.......

I sold a cam to a customer with a 505 for a hot street build.
He was looking for something pretty hot, that wouldn’t be too miserable on the street with closed exhaust.
I sold him a cam that was 262/266-112. They installed it at around 108.
Dynoed motor with way too big headers(2-1/4”), power was down from expectations.
He comes on a forum and everyone is harping on the 112lsa and the 108 c/l is the big problem.
He gets convinced to put the cam in at around 100-102 iirc.

Made less power......... pretty much everywhere as I recall.

Advancing the cam changes all the events...... not just the ivc point.
And two of the other events often aren’t very helpful when advanced.

I'm not an experienced builder...I'm much more of an abnormal hobbyist.

That said...the most I ever tried was +6, and it helped that application quite a bit where I needed it.

It wasn't a race type of application though, it was actually on a stock cam 1972 400 daily driver.
I was really happy with the change and decided to try it around 75,000 miles when replacing the plastic timing gears.