Racers Using Hydraulic Cams Chime in

[biomedtechguy]

I ran the mopar 509 hydraulic fir several years . I think 11.12 or 11.18 was best et . Shifted at 6000 trapped 6200ish . This was in a 440ci .
Plus i used this as a daily driver

Tex

I have Comp Cams hydraulic lifters, springs, locks, and 10° retainers on otherwise stock 452 heads. Mopar old school Purple Stripe 509 cam in a stock 71 440 with an Edelbrock aluminum 6 bbl intake and carburetors. I know in my mind that I am probably revving past peak horsepower, but the butt dyno and motor say otherwise as it pulls strongly to 6,200. Shift light set at 5,800 rev limiter set at 6,200. Zero problems with the lifters.

 

[LemonWedge]

It's not that you'll have problems with juice lifters, it's that by design they're not doing their job as acurately or consistently that a solid lifter will. By design, when the cam lobe lays into the hydraulic lifter, it compresses and the action that it transfers to the valve is sluggish; not an exact replication of the cam profile. And not consistent throughout the RPM range.
They work, just not as well as a solid does.

 

[RT K_line]

Back in the day I used to spin to 6500 easy with both a 440 and 400 engines and hydraulic cams. Both were daily drivers and weekend worriors.