Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickt
Brent, how many times have I written that I don't understand why everybody doesn't use a solid flat tappet cam? Yes, you have to break it in, but once you're past that and you get a thousand miles on it then it's going to last longer than you are. With a high quality roller rocker set-up you lash it once a year... if that. Just use a good ZDDP oil. C'mon, how hard is that? And you get the benefit of that wonderful flat tappet sound and the hi-revs. Anybody that puts a hydraulic cam in an FE-equipped Cobra is just a big, fat puss_.
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You may get lucky, but if you put out a number of engines a year, you stay away from those piece of crap cams.
Ask Keith Craft, Barry Rabotnick and some of the other professional builders why they dread it when someone wants a flat tappet.
You can write it until you're blue in the face, but one day you'll wipe one down too. Every builder I talk to steers away from them now....even with break in springs, Brad Penn or Gibbs break in oil, low ratio rocker arms, etc. You can't guarantee that you'll have a successful break-in every time.
For just a couple hundred dollars more, you can guarantee that you won't have any break in issues. A couple hundred now, with better lobes and more power, or a couple thousand later on when your cam lobes flatten and scatter metal shavings throughout your engine.
Hydraulic rollers will run 100000 miles without worry.
Solid rollers are a little more risky because of the lash, but if you have pressure fed lifters and keep the idle speed up, they'll last and last.
I've never put a flat tappet cam in a customer's engine, or any of mine for that matter....and I never will.
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