Solid or Roller Cam what would you use.

[Mike Gaines]

This really has been an interesting thread. The distinction between hydraulic roller & solid roller durability is still not totally clear to me. Hydraulic roller with the proper cam profile for "street" application sure seems to make sense. For drag racing, solids are straight forward, durable & proven for the intended use. Solid rollers for drag use clearly allow for much more radical lift rates. Newer solid lifter cam profiles, I'm told by my qualified builder, are much more capable of the performance levels, but maintain the inherent durability of the solid. My roller experience is 30 years old & I didn't have roller problems, but spring problems. It's clear that springs have come a LONG way since the 80's. I'm going with a solid lifter cam on my new motor, and planning on not letting valve lash get out of control. My only "broken" motor came from a backed off adjuster, lost pushrod & lifter, no oil pressure during the run, seized bearings. I will be installing a LARGE low pressure warning lite with my new motor after recalling this failure.

Mike are those lift numbers with the 1.6 rockers?

NO...Those lift numbers do NOT take into consideration the 1.6 rockers which would make the lift MORE.

 

[69 GTX]

Just goes to show you that you can't always just buy parts and expect them to work without knowing how they work together.

 

[Jusahemiroid]

I have a hydraulic roller. I use it mostly on the street but do go to the track as well. Probably 85/15 like you. In four years, I adjusted twice and really didn't need it. I run power brakes and have run 11.60's at the track . I feel a solid may be more maintenance and more wear and tear on the valvetrain.

 

[383man]

Just goes to show you that you can't always just buy parts and expect them to work without knowing how they work together.

Yea thats like when you see bigblock Mopar pistons advertised as say 10.5 comp but really the comp could be all over the place depending on the heads you would use. Ron

 

[Bigal75]

I use a Bullet solid lifter with tool steel lifters. Personally I don't trust solid roller lifters. Perhaps the guys that own machine shops or people with huge bank accounts can afford the risk. I can't.

 

[383man]

I use a Bullet solid lifter with tool steel lifters. Personally I don't trust solid roller lifters. Perhaps the guys that own machine shops or people with huge bank accounts can afford the risk. I can't.

I did not want to trust solid rollers on my street eng as I drive it alot so I run a solid flat tappet with the EDM lifters. Ron

 

[BigHemi]

I don't trust flat tappets. Heard of a LOT more flat tappet failures than roller failures. If a roller is set up w/ the correct valve springs and quality lifters...you won't have any problems.

 

[383man]

I don't trust flat tappets. Heard of a LOT more flat tappet failures than roller failures. If a roller is set up w/ the correct valve springs and quality lifters...you won't have any problems.

I have never had a flat tappet fail. The deal with roller lifters is since they run so much spring pressure most agree after 3 to 5000 miles to pull them and have them rebuilt as they dont want to chance a roller failing. I seen a few destroy the eng from a roller lifter coming apart. I know many run them and do fine as I understand the street rollers dont run as much pressure but my point is I dont want to pull my lifters every 5000 or less miles and have them rebuilt for peace of mind because I would be running a race type cam with alot of spring pressure. Dont want valve float with a roller as if the roller lifter hammers in valve float they say that can damage the rollers and cause them to come apart. My point with the flat tappet is is good for the life of my eng as long as it never wipes a lobe or has a problem. I dont have to worry about one of them coming apart and dont have to pull them every 5000 or so miles and check them as I would with a roller if I used one. Not saying that many dont get away with many more miles but many dont as I have seen a few horror stories of a roller lifter coming apart. Myself I have never wiped a lobe on any flat tappet cam I have used but I always break them in right and use oil with alot of zink. Many like you do prefer the roller and thats fine as we all can use what we feel good with. Ron

 

[66Satellite47]

Gee, I have had MANY thousand runs on my flat tappet cams, no problems. The only time I had "flat tappet" failure was with my mushroom lifter cam, when I failed to shift into 2nd gear. OOP's 8,400 RPM was beyond the limit of the valve train. I have had fine results from all of my flat tappet cams. Again many thousand runs with no trouble.

 

[moper]

Hello mopar Family i have been asking questions and my answers have been split so what would you use and why... ? I am building a big block 440 Stroker motor and the car will see 85% Street & 15 % Track so what would you choice for it and why..
1. Solid Mechanical Flat Tappet
2. Mechanical Roller.

You leave out the budget. Is budget a consideration? Yes or no... it's not a "maybe" deal...lol.

 

[66Satellite47]

You leave out the budget. Is budget a consideration? Yes or no... it's not a "maybe" deal...lol.

Really good point. I did briefly consider a hydraulic roller, but the cost was more than 3 times that of a plain solid. I told my builder that I do know how to check valve lash & can do that routinely. We'll see how it works out.

 

[Budnicks]

I've had 1000's of runs on Solid Rollers
{nearly 4 decades of some sort of drag racing, spints &/or street driven} &
about 10 years now on a Crane Hydraulic Roller (custom grind from a long time ago}
in my current car, with no real failures...

I did have a problem with burning the adjusters/cups
mainly because of too much adj. screw/ball sticking out
{oil starving/too short of push-rods}...
Even a couple of broken rocker adjusters, bad batch of adj.'s "allegedly",
it had nothing to do with cam selections thou...

but I also keep on top of my valve-train & check often too
that way I don't have any catastrophic failures...

if you want the most HP, a solid roller is the answer BUT;
you have to weight the pros & cons of your own specific needs
& maintenance scheduals, upkeep, oil changes, parts quality,
intended usage etc., it's not just one fits all & especially
"not just what someone on the internet says either",
do your own due diligence & your own research...

I also use lash caps on almost all my builds,
I don't ever skimp on any of my valve-train parts ever...

Too much or too little valve-spring can kill parts too...

 

[snakeoil24]

Roller cams used properly are really long wearing. the simplicity of flat tappets is true. But Who is thinking about economy with such an expensive hobby? Especially with cam and rollers??

 

[moper]

Really good point. I did briefly consider a hydraulic roller, but the cost was more than 3 times that of a plain solid. I told my builder that I do know how to check valve lash & can do that routinely. We'll see how it works out.

The only way I'll run a solid roller in a big or small block is with the lifter bores bushed. There's a lot of debate over that need, but I do it - no exceptions. So that adds to the cost further and the cost differential between hydraulic roller and solid are minimal these days. In my builds, goind solid roller adds about $1400 beyond the cost of a solid flat tappet. If you want the power and benefits of a roller, you have to pony up the dough. It's just that simple.

 

[snakeoil24]

I wish i had bushed my roller lifters a big deal.