Stock cam 360 idles bad, dies in gear, fixed!

If your lifter preload is too great from milled heads, this will cause you to have to run a great amount of initial timing to get a good idle. It's sorta like running valves adjusted too tight. It makes the cam seem bigger than it is. Were the heads milled any?

As long as you are in the stroke of the lifter piston the amount of preload is not going to impact the idle. A lot of preload can cause issues with lifter pump up at high rpm.