Solid Roller vs. Hyd. Roller - Pros/Cons?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Barry_R

I ran a solid roller FE on the street for over a decade with zero lifter failures and a total of two bronze gears - I changed the first one only because the new MSD distributor has a larger shaft diameter. --- Crane sells a very durable steel distributor gear as a great option.


What kills lifters is not too much spring - its too little.

And lash. Lash should be at the minimum needed to keep the valves closed when cold - roller bearings have poor impact resistance - I would not want to be much more than .016-.018 hot on a street aluminum head iron block application.

Hydraulic rollers are definitely OK for cruising - but are RPM limited - so far I have not had a lot of luck with them beyond 6000.....

That's kind of what I have heard, the pounding on the needle bearings does them in. With an all aluminum engine, there is about 0.013" growth in lash from cold to hot, at least in my engine.

Originally Posted by Jamo

Note Barry R. refers to using a standard volume oil pump.

I was particularly specific about the fact I (and many others around here) use hi-volume oil pumps, and that these were a particular problem for the bronze gears.


Crane's steel gear is NOT an option with a solid roller cam which does NOT have a hardened cam gear. :

It was my understanding that the majority of solid roller cams are made from billlet steel, with "billet / steel" distributor gears.

I ran a bronze, and after about 1000 miles, there was wear. With the crane steel gear, there is no wear, but the face of the teeth are shiny at the point of contact. I would probably run oil with alot of zinc in it to help with gear wear.