[Jeff Frigo]

Wilf:

There are 2 types of solid lifters. The one you described above is a flat lifter solid cam. Adjustment every 3-5k miles is fine. The other type of solid cam is a roller lifter solid cam. The reason these type of cams need to be adjusted so often is because there are tiny needle bearings that surround the roller on the lifter. These parts wear very rapidly, in fact probably need to be rebuilt or replaced evey 5,000 miles or so. That is why most people don't run this type of cam on the street.

You may ask "how do engines that have hydraulic rollers run for 100k without needing to replace them?" Simple, they run less lift and have more consevative acceleration and deceleration ramps on the cams, thus require about half of the spring pressure. The heavy spring pressure also is hard on the rest of the valve train.

The plus side of solid rollers is HP. The hgher the hp, the more maintance required, and less engine longevity.