440 power gains/ aluminum head advantages?

Five degrees 'off'. Off which way, advanced or retarded? I am always amazed at the time spent tinkering to get the cam exactly at some amount of adv or ret......for a cam that has not been used or tested & therefore no info where the best position [ position: whether it should be advanced or retarded & by how much ] would be to install it.

While a few degrees of advance is often used, the FACT is that if you want to find the optimum position, you have to put the engine on a dyno....& test at each position.

Generally [ with lots of exceptions ], advancing the cam can pick up a few hp at the low end....& retarding the cam will do the opposite; & may give a few more HP at the top end, especially if the cam was a bit small.