Solid roller, is it worth it?

[kjalltrac]

This would be the last upgrade to my engine (if I do it), before I go a different route in a couple of years from now.
Is it worth the money going to a solid roller, Trying different dyno programs and a the solid roller would give me some 50-75hp more than my hydraulic flat tappet.
I´m leaning towards the comp cams XR280R
242/248 at 050
0.57/0.576 lift
110 lob sep

This is my current combo.
440 stock bore and stroke.
Cast crank
Edelbrock e-street heads with minor touch up and back cut valves.
xe284h comp cam
Cam Style: Hydraulic flat tappet
Basic Operating RPM Range: 2,300-6,500
Duration at 050 inch Lift: 240 int./246 exh.
Advertised Duration: 284 int./296 exh.
Intake Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.507in
Exhaust Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio:0.510
Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.507 int./0.510exh
Lobe Separation (degrees): 110

Edelbrock performer rpm intake
Speedmasters roller tip rockers (Ball/ball pushrods)
L2355F Forged pistons
ca 10.1 comp ratio about 190-195 cold cranking pressure
850 hr quickfuel dp
1 3/4 headers
3" exhaust x pipe and 2 chamber mufflers that necks down to 2 1/4 inside

tf727 with reverse manual vb and low band apply.
Hughes 3000 stall torque converter
3.73 rear end
ss springs
90/10 shocks front
26" slicks

1964 Plymouth Belvedere all steel 3700-3800lbs
12.47s @106mph
60 foot 1.74sec

 

[Lefty71]

I personally would not do it, given the other potential problems and bottlenecks, such as small headers, cast crank and heavy pistons (old school). Just my two cents tho. If you do get to a total rebuild, then my answer would change for sure, because I think you can certainly see an improvement with the solid roller. If you should go that route, please call a custom cam shop and tell them what you desire from your car, and listen very carefully to their recommendations. HTH, Lefty71

 

[gkent]

Solid roller is a big investment to do it right with quality parts. What about just stepping up to a bigger solid lifter cam like the Mopar Performance .557 or .590 ?

What does the dyno program say your HP is now and what are you shooting for ??

 

[67_Dodge_Charger]

If you go with a roller cam costs rise as you need to change, lifters, push rods, rocker arms that you can adjust and headers that should be 2 1/8. that could cost you close to 2k. start from scratch and select the best bottom end to hand the extra torque and better heads for flow, plus what fuel system and intake would you have. just my 2 cents from personal experience

 

[kjalltrac]

Would like to go 11s and around 525-550hp
Im aware of that it will cost me around 1500k to go roller
I believe Im near 480hp at the moment.
The car is mostly a weekend cruiser with some track use.
If I go bigger solid flat tappet I will have to change torque converter and probably sacrifice some low end torque and drivability. So I figured a solid roller might help me.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Funny. I clicked on this post thinking you found a solid roller rust free project car minus drive train that you were wondering if it would be worth it or not? Lol.

 

[Mike Gaines]

This would be the last upgrade to my engine (if I do it), before I go a different route in a couple of years from now.
Is it worth the money going to a solid roller, Trying different dyno programs and a the solid roller would give me some 50-75hp more than my hydraulic flat tappet.
I´m leaning towards the comp cams XR280R
242/248 at 050
0.57/0.576 lift
110 lob sep

This is my current combo.
440 stock bore and stroke.
Cast crank
Edelbrock e-street heads with minor touch up and back cut valves.
xe284h comp cam
Cam Style: Hydraulic flat tappet
Basic Operating RPM Range: 2,300-6,500
Duration at 050 inch Lift: 240 int./246 exh.
Advertised Duration: 284 int./296 exh.
Intake Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.507in
Exhaust Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio:0.510
Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio: 0.507 int./0.510exh
Lobe Separation (degrees): 110

Edelbrock performer rpm intake
Speedmasters roller tip rockers (Ball/ball pushrods)
L2355F Forged pistons
ca 10.1 comp ratio about 190-195 cold cranking pressure
850 hr quickfuel dp
1 3/4 headers
3" exhaust x pipe and 2 chamber mufflers that necks down to 2 1/4 inside

tf727 with reverse manual vb and low band apply.
Hughes 3000 stall torque converter
3.73 rear end
ss springs
90/10 shocks front
26" slicks

1964 Plymouth Belvedere all steel 3700-3800lbs
12.47s @106mph
60 foot 1.74sec

With good rocker arms (that stay in adjustment) I would go with a solid flat tappet cam with about the same specs as the roller, maybe even a little more aggressive.
You don't need to spend the money on a roller at this point with your current motor specs...in my opinion...for what it is worth....LOL
I don't see any problems with converter, etc.

 

[gkent]

525-550 ain't gonna happen with that combo buddy ! I have a much wilder 526 stroker with MW heads. 2" headers, .600 solid roller, etc and I'm only in the 550 range.

A lot depends on the dyno program you're running things through. In my opinion, when you have a baseline motor and know what it will do, it doesn't matter if the dyno program says its 400 HP or 5000 HP, what really matters is the loss or gain. You can only expect so much out of a dyno program that is spitting out numbers based solely on algorithms.

 

[6PKRTSE]

For the record I have the Comp XE292E in my Charger with well over 15,000 miles on it still with stock oem rockers. I didn't think going with a solid roller and roller rockers was worth the extra money for just a cruiser.

 

[kjalltrac]

I know dyno programs aint trustworthy, but compared to proven dyno combos the softwares usually are within 20-30hp from the real dyno numbers.
Stanton> Thats exactly what I am after, if the gain is worth the cost of a solid roller.
Anyone on here that switched to a solid street roller and done et or dyno comparison?

 

[PRHeads]

HP numbers aside, I don’t see swapping your current cam to that street solid roller is going to net you .5 in the ET and 6mph.......with no other changes.

ET is much more dependent on the “car” being efficient than some extra power.
I agree your current motor combo would likely show 480-ish hp on an engine dyno....... but......106mph @3800lbs shows 347hp on the Moroso chart.
So the car isn’t efficient.
To go from 106 to 112.5 shows you need to increase the power by about 65hp(or you need to improve the cars efficiency..... or both).

Along with the cam, I’d suggest a converter swap to something like a tight 9.5” converter.
If the heads come off, I’d have a little porting done as well.

 

[dvw]

That car should go mid 11s with .550 lift good converter and traction. We run a 65 Belvedere street car. 10-1 (heavy TRWs stock rod), Eddy RPM heads (untouched), 557 Mopar solid, cheapie headers, 4.10, good converter. Its saddled with an old Wieend 2x4 with 600 Eddys. It's been 11.32@117. 2nd car street Duster, 10-1, Comp Cams 305H, 3.91, Performer RPM, 850 Holley, Eddy RPM heads, fenderwell headers. 11.28@117. No need for a solid roller.
Doug

 

[dcala84141]

I had a 383 68 RR stock bore stock heads with a valve job, crane cheater cam, 456 rear 2” headers, stock manifold, stock carb 4 speed trans, I was a consistent 12.8’s with best 12.61 It’s about all the combo working together

 

[gkent]

I had a 383 68 RR stock bore stock heads with a valve job, crane cheater cam, 456 rear 2” headers, stock manifold, stock carb 4 speed trans, I was a consistent 12.8’s with best 12.61

I'd like to see those timeslips !!

 

[kjalltrac]

HP numbers aside, I don’t see swapping your current cam to that street solid roller is going to net you .5 in the ET and 6mph.......with no other changes.

ET is much more dependent on the “car” being efficient than some extra power.
I agree your current motor combo would likely show 480-ish hp on an engine dyno....... but......106mph @3800lbs shows 347hp on the Moroso chart.
So the car isn’t efficient.
To go from 106 to 112.5 shows you need to increase the power by about 65hp(or you need to improve the cars efficiency..... or both).

Along with the cam, I’d suggest a converter swap to something like a tight 9.5” converter.
If the heads come off, I’d have a little porting done as well.

A 3500-3800 stall 9,5" tq has been on my mind to.
Thank you for your input

 

[Cojohnso1]

I see no reason to even go with a solid cam whether flat or roller unless you are lookng to go over 6500 RPM. I truly believe the primary hurdle of RB block builds is that they are under stroked for their deck height. Want to really wake up your 440? Stroke the motor to maybe even 512 build? I know this is a totally different direction. But getting to the 500+ horse range. And even more important low end torque pickup? A stroker build is far more stable than playing with the idea of high lift more exotic cam grinds and profiles. A 512. With head port work with a .550 hydrolic cam setup? 500+ horse and very streetable. Just my opinion of course.

 

[dcala84141]

I wish I had saved them, It was in 1970, I still have the trophy’s, I ran G stock 8” slicks The car was a freek. Never lost 1/4 mile even got protested at track national speedway at the time. Car was well known in my town. I remember shifting at 5,900 rpm. Got married lost interest in racing and had no trouble selling the car after it sat in parents garage for 5 yrs. I still remember though all the little tips from some really smart Mopar guys back then that made the car an animal.

 

[LemonWedge]

I think the best advice I could offer would be to build the engine you want from the beginning. Throwing more cam at a current combo that won’t support it is just throwing $$$ away in my opinion. Set a goal and make a plan to reach that goal. set a budget and stay within it. With BB mopars, “solid roller” and “budget” don’t belong in the same sentence IMHO, btw.

What Dwayne said above is really true. More power isn’t always the answer. Car setup is absolutely imperative, especially when your goal is to make a heavy car ET. For reference: I originally built my combo with the goal of going 11.50. I was told by a few guys early on that my engine combo would make enough power to go faster than that if the chassis was effective. First time out, it went 12.40. Since then with minimal engine changes, I’ve shaved well over a full second off my ET with mostly chassis adjustments and a few bolt-on part swaps. I run a very streetable 252* solid flat-tappet and weigh in at 3870. It ran 11.25 a few weeks ago.

 

[Tex013]

its funny I ran 11.30s with a 509 cam , 4000 stall and 3.9 gears on ET street radials (275/60R15) . that was at around 3800lbs with Source heads .Pump gas motor @ 10.75:1 . With 4.1 gears it went 11.18 I think
maybe look at what you have and reassess . I see the dual plane as not helping .
If you want solid a flat tappet will achieve your goals easily with lower cost/maintenance

Tex

 

[ohiokm]

What's your elevation @ those ETs?
Also pay close attention to Duration @ .050
when cam shopping around.

Cheers
Kirk