I run a solid roller, crane cam and lifters. I recently changed from the bronze gear after 1000 miles, showing some wear, a small groove in the gear teeth, to a billet gear by crane compatabile with the billet cam. Because the MSD distributor has a larger shaft, you need to get the distributor gear for the 429/351C engine, and not the one for the FE with the MSD. I was told by one engine builder that he doesn't like the billet gears, because they don't "absorb" the cam vibration like a bronze gear does.

Regarding solid roller lifters, I spoke with Rob McQuarie at Blue Oval Perf, and he said it is not only the lack of oiling that causes solid roller failures, but is also the constant impacting on the lifters because of the valve lash needed, as opposed to hydraulic lifters that run 0 lash, and therefore is a much smoother transition when the valve opens. I had thought about cutting a small groove in the side of the lifter body to feed oil from the lifter gallary down to the roller for greater splash oiling at low rpms, as I already have the crane lifters, instead of buying a set of crower's, but with 1300 miles on them already, I will probably replace them with crower's.

Regarding hydraulic rollers, Rob said that it was difficult to get high rpm's out of them. Crane told me that the lifters don't bleed down much, since they have a tight tolerence, and I thought that running too high of spring pressures wouild cause the lifter to bleed down too much. I had thought about running a hydraulic roller lifter with the valve train adjusted so the lifter is close to bottoming out with the valve closed, to limit the amount of lifter collapse with high spring pressures needed for high rpms. Higher spring pressures are harder on the roller bearings though. Crane didn't reccommend running their lifter like this. I think Keith Craft stated he gets 6500 rpm's out the hydraulic rollers.

Interesting topic.

Thanks Dave...appreciate you sharing your real world experiences.

I'm going to check on Crane re using a billet gear.

Anthony Did you ask Rob about the oil pump you are running and the pressure. The oil weight and type of oil. I have found a couple of articles in old mags about putting a .030 groove in the lower housing of the distributor to help oil the two gears. Titan said there pump is easier on drives than spur gears. There is a company that makes a polymer gear, I am waiting to see it. It is not cheap but is tougher than bronze gear and if wears no metal flakes that will damage the motor. Crane told me you can get between 6500-6800 rpm out of them with the right setup. They have a kit to cut a groove in your block to help lube the roller and cam. I have a set of hydro rollers also but going with a smaller crane cam. How high of an rpm is the question and how much valve adjustment do you want to do? Rick Lake

Rick, I run a melling HV, I think #57. I run Mobil 1 10W-30. I didn't talk to anybody about any groove to get additional oil to the gears.

Sorry don't have a Cobra but running an FE with a soild street roller cam and I don't know how revelant this is for those with the Al blocks. I'm using Crane Pro Series roller lifters which have a small oiling hole routing oil from the lifter galley directly to the roller bearings. This is similar to the HIPPO option on the Crower lifters. I think even the standard Crane rollers have these oiling holes. Might be wrong on this though. My block has the hydraulic lifter oil galleys but if you have the older blocks without these or the non hydraulic side oiler blocks this won't help. I had a big drop in oil pressure after switching to these lifters from flat tappets (about 10psi at hot idle). I pulled the intake and spun the oil pump and saw a whole bunch of oil coming out of the roller end of each lifter. I had to put restrictors in the lifter passages and got most of the pressure back but still had a lot of oil going to the rollers. (When I checked with the flat tappets, very little oil leaked past the lifters) If you use these type of lifters with the oiling holes, it might be worth the time to spin the oil pump before you put the intake on to check your oil pressure and see if you need restrictors if you have the lifter oil passages. I have a few hundred miles on the motor with no problem. Also using the bronze gear with HV oil pump.
Hope this might be of some help and again sorry for imposing.

I'm running the pro-series as well, but I didn't think they had oiling to the bearings. I guess you're right. Maybe I won't need to change to the crowers as soon as I thought I would need to.

afret...thanks, and by all means--you are certainly not imposing.

Anthony or Dave....which is it?%/