what was the duration of the old cam? I'm willing to bet it's quite less than 224*... that's where your cranking compression went. What vehicle is this in? Transmission? Torque converter? Gear ratio? Where does it not "seem" to have enough power? Out of the hole or up top? Does it pull at high revs? What is your redline? What fuel are you using (octane)? Retarding the cam also is killing your cylinder pressure... all this explains why you can run so much timing lead... try running some crap regular gas in it and you might find more power

-Chris