Valvetrain noise

[Randy Wilson]

Which is quieter,Retro- fit Hyd roller valvetrain or hydraulic tappet with fast rate of lift cam?

 

[1967coronet]

I would say the roller set up.
Fast rate cam or heck any cam pre load / adjustment is going to play a part also.

 

[beanhead]

I know "noisy" can be subjective, but IMO you're likely to be disappointed using anything besides a milder-lobe hydraulic flat tappet if valvetrain noise is a primary concern. Exhaust manifolds rather than headers help some, but do give up power.
I used to run the Comp 275XE-HL (hydraulic flat tappet) in a 440 and it was every bit as noisy as the solid flat tappet I'm running now. I've never heard a hydraulic roller that was much quieter, and there are plenty of threads on the web talking about this...I think it's just the nature of the beast when hopping up these old blocks.

 

[Geoff 2]

A number of factors at play here. The internal working of a hydraulic FT & a roller lifter are the same: piston, valve mechanism. Roller cams can have more lobe lift & more aggressive lobes than a FT lobe. That means stronger valve springs are reqd to control the valve train.....which means a faster bleed down rate & more noise. Oil viscosity & rocker ratio also affect bleed down rate & hence noise.

 

[Randy Wilson]

Thanks for all the great answers. Any one else?

 

[Kern Dog]

Randy...I know YOU.
Sorry that I haven't made your show in a couple of years. Don't take it personal....Stuff sometimes just comes up and diverts my attention.

I used to think that I wanted that clackity clack sound of a solid lifter cam for my Charger. I have adjustable rocker arms so I went with a Lunati solid, then a Mopar Performance 528. Both ran well but the 528 went flat last year. I pulled the engine to rebuild it and put the Lunati back in.
I've grown tired of the clackity sound. It isn't obnoxious but it can be annoying.
Recently a buddy asked for my help with his 68 Plymouth so I brought it here to do some work. It has a mild hydraulic flat tappet that makes absolutely no valvetrain noise at all. Another pal with a 69 Coronet also has a hydraulic flat tappet that also sounds quiet. It has me thinking that I want to switch back to something hydraulic to cut down on the clatter. Both of those cars make plenty of power and their engines sound great. The blue Plymouth turned a 12.80 with the 451 and 3.55 gears so it isn't slow.

EDIT:
To address your question, neither of those other cars have those "Fast rate of lift" type cams.
I did have one ...err, two of them before.
In 2004 or 2005 I swapped in a Comp XE285HL and it went flat. I replaced it and the second one failed too. Neither seemed noisy to me. Power was decent.

 

[RemCharger]

I'll agree, the flat tappets are quieter from my experience.

 

[Randy Wilson]

Randy...I know YOU.
Sorry that I haven't made your show in a couple of years. Don't take it personal....Stuff sometimes just comes up and diverts my attention.

I used to think that I wanted that clackity clack sound of a solid lifter cam for my Charger. I have adjustable rocker arms so I went with a Lunati solid, then a Mopar Performance 528. Both ran well but the 528 went flat last year. I pulled the engine to rebuild it and put the Lunati back in.
I've grown tired of the clackity sound. It isn't obnoxious but it can be annoying.
Recently a buddy asked for my help with his 68 Plymouth so I brought it here to do some work. It has a mild hydraulic flat tappet that makes absolutely no valvetrain noise at all. Another pal with a 69 Coronet also has a hydraulic flat tappet that also sounds quiet. It has me thinking that I want to switch back to something hydraulic to cut down on the clatter. Both of those cars make plenty of power and their engines sound great. The blue Plymouth turned a 12.80 with the 451 and 3.55 gears so it isn't slow.

View attachment 1539141

EDIT:
To address your question, neither of those other cars have those "Fast rate of lift" type cams.
I did have one ...err, two of them before.
In 2004 or 2005 I swapped in a Comp XE285HL and it went flat. I replaced it and the second one failed too. Neither seemed noisy to me. Power was decent.

Good to hear from you. Thanks for the opinions. In this particular engine I am running a Hughes fast rate 224/228 with Isky adj. iron rockers w/ .040 pre-load and it is somewhat noisy.

 

[BSB67]

Curious. Does anyone know from experience if the cause of the hydraulic lifter clatter is from the fast rate cam lobe, the lifter quality, or both?

Is the clatter from smacking the lobe open, or the lifter crashing down on the base on closing?

Has anyone run a high quality lifter from the 1980s on a fast rate cam?

Thanks

 

[PRHeads]

I’ve never heard an old school platform(something that wasn’t offered with a HR new) HR performance cam equipped engine that had the kind of silent operation associated with an OE cam.

The last one I was involved with here, that I got to experience on the dyno myself, used the new Comp Evolution lifters along with a custom HR cam that did not utilize “fast rate” lobes.
What valvetrain noise was present, fell well within what I felt was an acceptable limit.
I was making pulls to 6300 with a 505” BB, and didn’t see any signs of valvetrain problems thru that rpm point.

The previous BBM HR combos we’d had on the dyno here started showing signs of unhappiness below 6k, along with an overall noisier operation.
Those engines used the street series of Morel lifters.
One of them ended up having a plunger getting stuck at the bottom of the lifter after a pull to 6000.

IMO, I’d rather deal with the potential possibility of a little extra valvetrain noise than what’s involved with the repercussions of some sort of flat tappet cam failure.

 

[Randy Wilson]

Here is another one - would the addition of a set of steel roller rockers such as Comp or Hughes add noise or reduce noise in a fast rate of lift hyd. cam setup?