timing off?

[Christopher Keen <ckeen@domain.elided>]

Hi All,
I wrote a little while back about a clicking noise in my engine and how my
mechanic suggested it might be a flat spot on the cams, and asked for
suggestions/references on cams that would still pass CA smog. Didn't hear
anything back, but have still been thinking about the problem itself, and I
came up with something that might affect this: While I was trying to remove
the tach cable, I pushed the car forward (not even one rev) in 5th gear to
try to get the cable to disengage from the drive gear. Is there any chance
that doing this would have messed up the timing or something, causing this
clattering noise? Also, if the cams are indeed flat-spotted, would this
cause damage to the engine (valves?) if I continued to drive that way (until
it gets really noisy)?
Thanks in advance
Chris Keen
'77 Spider
Los Altos, CA 
PS: I don't really want to start a "what cams are best" thread, just want to
know what has worked for you, so responding off-line might be better........
:-)

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