Offset woodruff for camshaft timing sprocket

[richard230sl]

I have been reading the posts about the camshaft timing with great interest.
My head was decked very slightly, and I installed a new chain.

I now discovered that with the standard woodruff, the camshaft is about 4,5 degrees late (about 9 degrees at the crankshaft)

In posts of Dan and Joe (thanks!) I am reading that correcting this is described in some BBB as being not important, but I also read that it could cost compression and with it HP.

So in order to check if I understood the posts and in order to check what to do best:

Can I leave the cam at 9 degrees late (looking at the markings at the cam and crank)?
Or is the compression loss for my case considerable and can I better correct it with a stepped woodruff?

If its not needed: that's great!

And if a stepped woodruff is recommended: what is the best way to determine the degrees of offset:
My idea would be to order a 4 degree offset woodruff and check if the valve is  at least 1mm down and touches the piston at 5 degrees  (crank) atdc

Do I understand it correctly that the markings will then still indicate that the timing is 9 degrees late (the sprockets would stay in their same position in the chain, but the camshaft will turn 4 degrees clockwise inside the sprocket thanks to the offset woodruff)

Thanks for your thoughts!

[stickandrudderman]

I wouldn't worry about it; just make sure you leave the cam trailing not leading the crank in terms of timing.
Many years ago I built race engines and would spend hours fussing over details like this but it never made the slightest perceptible difference.

[merrill]

hi
been there did that 20 years ago when metric motors rebuilt the motor in my 230 sl,

after following the procedure in the bbb i left everything the way it was