is it worth the effort? (cam)

Initial is what you set the timing to before any advance happens in the distrib. My 440 I was breaking mini starter noses off with just a bit of mechanical/vacuum advance kicking in during crank. Turned out it was the vac advance doing it with just a bit of vacuum. Went with a full mechanical Mallory, fixed the issue right away. Now I can run 15 initial with no starter issues.