noob valve spring question

If the cam timing is as I described, it’s off far enough where you should be able to determine if it’s the problem or not without pulling the cover.

“Most” cams will end up being installed somewhere near 110*atdc.
Measure the circumference of the damper, divide by 360, multiply by 110....... make a mark on the damper there.....110atdc.
Remove the drivers side v/c, and with an indicator on the #1 intake valve, turn the motor over and eyeball the peak lift.
It will kind of dwell there for several degrees, so work the crank forward and backward to try and zero in on the mid-point.
When you have it where you think that is....... look at where that mark on the damper is relative to the 0 on the timing tab.
If it’s pretty close(you should be within 10deg or so) that’s not your problem.
If the mark is like 2” away...... the cam is in 2.5 teeth off.

You could also mark the damper at 75* atdc, and see if that mark is pretty close to the 0 on the pointer, as another confirmation the cam is installed way advanced.

On some timing sets, particularly the 3-way adjustable ones, there is a dot or zero on the tooth...... and another above the center position keyway.
Apparently some people get a little confused by this, and end up lining up the dot over the keyway with the dot on the upper gear....... and this is what you end up with....... cam advanced 35*

If it’s something with a big cam....... you often never get to the point where it won’t go over 4000....... you end up with a bunch of bent intake valves instead.
Although, one of the 3 examples I’m aware of was a low cr 440 with a 509 cam.
In that one the compression test wasn’t immediately obviously conclusive, since it was a fairly normal-ish looking reading.
But with the long duration cam and the rather low CR the cranking numbers should have been pretty low...... instead of “normal”.