I'm thinking about a fairly standard 500 buildup (intake, exhaust, cam and head work), but am a little nervous about going to 10:1 on straight 93/94 octane.

Does anyone have any experience running a power-optimized spark curve on this engine?

Thanks...

the '68 and '69 472's have 10.5:1 and run on 93/94 so there shouldnt be a prob

Yeah, my stock-cammed 10:1 472 runs 91 octane just fine, even with an advanced timing curve, and full-time vacuum advance.
Since I assume you have a larger cam, that will reduce the dynamic compression, making running pump gas even easier.
If you're really concerned, have the combustion chambers polished. That will help reduce hot-spots, and promote more even combustion. Just don't go changing the shape or size of the chambers much.

Yeah, my stock-cammed 10:1 472 runs 91 octane just fine, even with an advanced timing curve, and full-time vacuum advance.
Since I assume you have a larger cam, that will reduce the dynamic compression, making running pump gas even easier.
If you're really concerned, have the combustion chambers polished. That will help reduce hot-spots, and promote more even combustion. Just don't go changing the shape or size of the chambers much.

Will this really work? I have a 10.5:1 472 that only runs on 91 octane if I add a bunch of octane booster. I'd like to put in a bigger cam like the ones from a 73 472 or MTS's similar #5 grind if that will help. I can't get 93/94 octane most places here and I'd probably not want to pay for it once I find it.

I don't want to do a radical rebuild to either low compression pistons, swap out to a 500, or swap out to ported 425 heads to reduce compression (Al from MTS's idea) if I don't have to. If somebody has put in a higher lift/duration cam in a high compression 472 with good results, please share.

Also my 68 shop manual says to remove the tranny, engine, and crank to take out the cam and that does not sound right to me. I thought if I took out the timing gears/chain, intake manifold, and removed the rods and lifters, I could carefully slide out the cam. I figured I would have to remove the rad so there would be room in front to slide out the cam.

Please help as I would like to do this mod while I still think I have the money.

Yeah, you should only have to pull the valve covers, intake, timing chain, radiator, grill, anything else that's in front of the engine.
Loosen the rockers, pull the pushrods, pull the lifters, If you are going to a new cam, new lifters are a must.

Thanks. I agree with replacing the lifters and I probably will have to take out the grill. But will the higher lift/duration cam really help with performance on the high compression 472 using pump gas?

Of course a cam will help with performance. It's what determines how well the engine can breathe.

A larger cam will move your powerband up the RPM scale. It will make more power at higher RPM's, but your lower RPM power and torque will suffer.
Also, don't go wild with this unless you also plan to change the torque converter and rearend gears. As you increase the cam size, the decresed lowend torque requires a 'looser' torque converter so the engine can easily idle against it, and lower rearend gears to move it's 5000# body off the line!

Does putting in a larger cam mean you have to move the rpm scale up? I would think it depends on what centers the cam is ground at as well as duration and lift. I would think you could put a much better breathing cam profile in with little change to the effective torque RPM range of the engine.

Yes, a larger cam will move the RPM scale up. Just look at the reccomended RPM's for camshafts on any cam makers website - the RPM's move up with each larger cam. Moving the lobe centers about will change how 'peaky' the engine is. Narrower LSA will concentrate the torque right around the torque peak while a wider LSA results in a bit less peak torque, but a much more even torque curve. Look at the cam profiles on the new 'vettes - very wide LSA, very wide torque band.
A narrow LSA will also make the idle rougher and reduce idle vacuum while a wider LSA does the opposite.

If you want to improve torque in the same RPM band for the engine, focus on airflow - better flowing intake, heads, and exhaust. More flow will let the engine produce more power no matter what RPM range you are looking at.