If the 51-53 cam is 5 degrees advanced compared to the 54 cam gear, that might actually not be a bad thing.
Seems like that would move peak torque down about 300 rpm. I do not really rev the car too high. My clipper rarely got over 2500 rpm, so adjusting the 359 for a little more torque down low and perhaps lowering the Max horsepower at the 3600-4000 rpm should actually be ok with me.
Here is a description of what adjusting cam Timing does to Performance from summit.
cam timingThis Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=254131