[lippy]

I'm on the fence between a hydraulic vs. solid lifter valvetrain. Brent, who is building my Pond 427/482 side-oiler, tells me the solid lifter engine would put out something like 650 HP and come on like a roller coaster. Sounds excessively great to me. If I go the hydraulic route, the engine would of course peak lower but still put out about 600 HP. If the driving experience is noticeably better, I'm fine checking valve lash every year or so, and inspecting/replacing lifters every 7,500-10,000 miles.

So my questions are:
(1) How many of you went with solid lifters?
(2) Are you happy you did it in retrospect, or if you did it again would you go with hydraulic?
(3) Do you think the driving experience/sound is very different with solid?
(4) If you have solid, now that you've lived with it, what are the biggest plusses/minuses?

Thanks!