Would you go so far as to say "If it were not for the break-in and lash adjustment issues, a solid flat tappet would be superior to both a hydraulic flat and hydraulic roller cam?"

Is there not an inherent advantage to a roller (either hydraulic or solid) that within a given lift, duration and overlap profile, the roller allows for a more aggressive (quicker) opening and closing of the valve via a more aggressive lobe profile than is possible with a flat tappet with the same specs? I was always under the assumtion that this was one of the biggest advantages of a roller over a flat tappet cam. Again, maybe I'm all wet here, but.......:confused:

Don't get me wound up, Jamo!:LOL:
PS - Know of a good lawyer?:cool::rolleyes:

No, I still think the hyd roller is better for all of the reasons I had in my post on the other thread that you copied and pasted above. They are just an inherently different design, with the lobe profiles on the hyd roller allowing you to get more bang for you buck at any given duration.

Jamo-
The cam gear is hardened steel also.

You're surrounded by three of 'em in this thread...who else would belabor their points like this? :LOL:

Chappie...and that's why you can use a steel gear (or an iron one if you want).

Yup, on both accounts. :p

Yeah, but the pertinent question is are any of you licensed in Indiana????:LOL:

Lo siento, Senior...mi licenso de abogato es limito to Republico de Californio.

Entiendo, gracias por la exhaustiva respuesta, Señor!:D

assolutely :)

The trick to using a stock iron gear with a roller is having the gear Nitride or mellonized, this can only be done to a NEW gear. -- so sayith the sooth from COMP cams.

Hmmmmm......and where would one go to get this work done? **)

You have to take it to a melon stand.:JEKYLHYDE

Aw yes...he weighs in. 4pipes has the bestest setup for running a solid roller...a dry sump. ;)

I couldn't hep myself.

BTW Jamo, I had the engine rebuilt 3 years ago and went with a flat tappet like yourself. Great performance and no worries since it was broken in on an engine dyno by the builder.

I developed a bad case of cold piston slap with the race pistons and we rebuilt it again with JE pistons and the builder decided it needed a little more umph, so he installed a Crower solid roller (mild lift for street) with the severe duty lifters. Well, I love the engine now, but I am a little concerned about reliability.

Time will tell.

:)

Well, at least the distributor gear isn't having to multi-task!

I've got a solid roller cam and lifters in a motor built by Tom Lucas at FE Specialties in 2007. It has 614 HP and about 5,000 + miles on the motor with no problems...I haven't even had to adjust the lifters yet as all settings have stayed in good adjustment. I'd say Tom knows his stuff.

Tom

Ahh, the kiss of death. I can hear those needle bearings seizing as I type this....:LOL:

Comp Cams Roller Hyd FE camshaft arrived Friday with the conversion lifters --here is the cam card.

http://www.siliconvalleyoperations.com/DSC05476sm.JPG

and the lifters ;
[IMG]http://www.siliconvalleyoperations.com/DSC05477.JPG[/IMG]

Very cool pieces - more updates when they happen.

Nice cam with a little lope in it
 

PANAVIA Steve, that is a nice little camshaft. Should make about 430ft pound of torque and 340 hp. I had a 501-533 in my 452 that that was the numbers at the crank. Make sure you have camshaft degreed after installing. FE cam shafts come with a 4degree advanced built into them. Your motor will have good bottom end. Depending on valve springs and head work, about 5,800 rpms and you are out of maken power. Good luck with the rear tires. All the torque that comes on off idle will be fun. Rick l. Ps you will need custom length pushrods. This is important to keep the rocker arm or roller in the middle of the valve stem. Talk to Tom about this but I run a loose hydro setup because of racing. I setup my adjuster for .015" depression of the plunger in the lifter. At high rpms the hydro lifters pump up because of oil pressure and the valves will not close all the way on the seats. This is why the motor noses over and goes flat at high rpms with hydro lifters. Some people go 1/2 turn others go 1 turn after the adjuster is slug. You can tell by spinning the pushrod with your finger. The other thing is oiling and are you running restrictors to the rockers and which rockers are you going to run.I have oiling through the pushrods and limiters of .080" in the heads for the Erson rockers. Talk to Tom about this too.