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Thinking about solid lifters
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! |
Solid or hydraulic roller cam? Or are you talking about solid or hydraulic flat tappets? I'm confused.
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I have a hydraulic roller cam, so I can't answer your specific questions related to solid roller cam, but I think if the above quote is correct, then I would do a solid roller. However, if your driving is 6,000-6,200 RPM or below, then I'm not sure you would see the benefits of a solid roller. |
This may be apples to oranges because my expirence is with Ford small block stroker engines,but here goes:
I've had both,solid roller and hydraulic roller,never really had any trouble with the solid roller set-up,but all in all, I prefer the hydraulic roller set-up.... unless you paln to turn your engine past 7,000 rpms on a regular basis for long periods of time (racing),a hydraulic roller set-up will work just fine and if your choosy about cams, one can find a hydraulic roller cam with near the same lift/duration as a solid roller cam and power output will be close.... I just prefer the hydraulic roller set-up, less expensive,less maintence,longer life of the parts...... just my opinion..... David |
i've had the solid and hydraulic rollers.
aluminum block--hydraulics. the block expands quite a bit and not always the same in each cylinder. it is an adjust when hot then let cool down and recheck and adjust each one to that spec, and if you go back and check the other cylinders when hot they will possibly (highly probable) still be different. if you try to adjust them all hot the engine will be cooling between when you started and ended. steel block, better chance of solids for me, but for me hydraulics are hard to beat. giving up 1000rpm at the top is a just a few seconds quicker shift, and giving up some hp at the upper end you will never know. with some good springs and lifters people are regularly turning up to 7g rpm on some of the engines, don't know if the fe is doable. |
Unfortunately, FE hydraulic roller lifters are done by about 6000. Plus there's only so much horsepower to be had by a naturally aspirated, Edelbrock headed, pump gas, hydraulic roller'd FE....(that was a mouth full)
As for all aluminum engines and setting lash, I start with a cold spec of about .010" under hot spec. Easy to check on the dyno and I can run through them in less than 10 minutes. |
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We can use Blue Thunder heads if you want. They're kinda hard to get a hold of right now though and they are a bit more expensive.
How about a supercharger? :) (Sorta serious, sorta joking...) |
on my solids i ran a stud girdle, so to adjust it might be a little more time consuming. when the girdle is tightened it changes the lash unless it is just loose enough to move the poly locks i have found.
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Yep, girdles can be a pain in the booty. Little extra time involved.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/photo6-1.jpg Fortunately, the FE uses a shaft mounted system.... |
If you feel that you want solids, don't forget to budjet the roll bar/cage improvements plus the sfi rated dampner, flywheel/clutch, driveline and off course the current dated driver safety equipment including fire retardant system-------
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Just call me Clair :rolleyes: |
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One more thing.
Don't BT's have raised exhaust ports? If so, you should examine any header and exhaust installation issues. |
Lippy,
I must have missed something. When did this go from a conservative "street" era with no hood scoop, no roll bar, with under car exhaust and low riser intake to a balls out 7500rpm solid roller with victor intake 650hp monster :o From my view from our exchanges - you came across reserved and conservative, but with your head screwed on right. Not a criticism, but a compliment. ;) Solid roller, 650hp seems to go against that philosophy. FWIW - My vote hydraulic near enough to 600hp that's about 200hp more than you'll need. Brent will build you whatever you want, even if you don't know what you want. Ask me how I know... :) |
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BUT... You're going to need to put stripes on it then :LOL: Enjoy, I kind of feel making these decisions is all part of the fun and a right of passage. In the end you'll probably end up doing what our friend Clair has suggested :p |
I know that guys running solids with high spring pressures are concerned with cars idling [less than 1200 rpms] alot -like our cars- unless you use pressure fed lifters. $$$$.
I would like to hear Brents comments on this. Brent, what about hydraulics with beehives- still too heavy for 6300-6500 rpms on the FE? If you can get your valvetrain to turn 6500 rpms with hydraulics, you can make good HP and have a maintenance free setup. A quality hydraulic lifter can take 150lbs on the seat and 400lbs open. This is easy for a SBF but like brent said FE, hhmmmm... I'm just not familiar with. |
How many miles are you realistically going to put on it in a year?
I think the majority of people put 1000 to 1500 mile on a Cobra per year, unless you are fortunate to live in an area with really good weather. That being said, you will probably get at least 5 years out of a solid roller cam before you have to worry about the lifters going bad. With a good rocker arm setup you should only have to set the valves 1 to 2 times per year.
I went with the solid roller setup in my car. I built my own motor, 427 iron block with 4.25 stroke steel crank. I went with Dove's modified high riser heads (Glidden version), a custom Dove tunnelwedge intake (it fits under the hood) and a comp cam with pressure oiled lifters. I had the Kirkhams make up a set of headers to match up with the exhaust port, and had to get a special set of rockers with extra offset to clear the intake ports. At 10.5 to 1 comp, it runs great on pump gas. It will idle below 800 RPM (but I set it at 1100 RPM to better oil the rollers). It pulls like a freight train from idle until I run out of balls. My motor peaked at 6800 RPM. On a conservative Dyno it made 650+ foot pounds of torque and 750+ HP. So far, no regrets. Paul |
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