I understand the physical difference in lifters, but what else is involved in swapping over? Im on the fence about keeping/selling my car (as a roller cuz i dont have a motor lol) and if i keep the car im going to put a pretty nice setup into it lol.

Ive been talking with John @ Thunder about building a stout 418 LS3 (big stroker series cam, afr 230v2s etc) and have been thinking why not just go solid roller and spin some serious RPMs?

Ive searched and searched and searched and cant find anything but classified adds, so ive turned to you guys in the racing section because this is where i usually come to get the real answers anyway.

Car is a street racing/ 1/8th mile car only. I may take it to a show every once in a while but it seems MAYBE 5K miles a year. I do my oil changes based on time rather than distance basicaly lol.

What do yall think?

 

I think the solid will be good for high rpm, 7,500+, but there have been several hydraulic cams with proper springs running that high as well.

I think it comes down to cost and your goals for the car. If its gonna be an 1/8 mile car what is your plans for gears and tranny? 4.56's? glide?

 

Car is an M6 w/ 4.56s currently. I WILL keep the M6 until I absolutely have to switch to an auto. I love shifting and love the challenge it presents. Ive driven a few high hp autos and while they are a blast it aint like hammerin a clutch car. I have thought about a liberty/lenco/multi stick (clutch assisted) type of trans though. I want a motor that is ment for n/a, and will only ever be n/a. I used to want to put a bottle on the car but i have changed my mind.

 

I wouldn't with that fat 55mm core... the cost/benefit isn't there compared to your typical sbc

 

From my understanding, rotating assembly needs to be considered when you want to really use the RPM a solid roller valve train is capable of. Start searching for solid roller set ups and see common traits.

 

Thats the problem. Ive searched here, google, and yellow bullet and all anyone ever talks about is solid roller springs and morel/crane lifters

 

Ask Tony Mamo...he has run a solid roller in his personal car for quite some time. His next build looks like it will be a hydraulic roller, but he is a big fan of a solid roller setup.

 

what are your goals for the setup? what is "serious rpm"? what kind of spring life are you expecting?

 

dreaming, somewhere in the 9sec range, realistically somewhere in the mid-low 10s. Serious RPM is whatever i have to spin to make the setup work best and i could care about spring life ill change them out ever month if i have to.

Im tired of pointlessly throwing money at this bucket and wanna spend a lot once and make sure its all setup together and right

 

Double your cost expectations on a solid roller setup. Heads, springs dbl timing chain ect. Worth every penny imo but the initial cost for the top end is not the normal head and cam swap we are all used too. valve adjustments once a month, spring changes every year.

 

See thats the thing. I need EVERYTHING. I was already figuring on 10-12K for a hyd setup and was going to see the difference to go to solid and just make the extra HP.

The adjustments and springs on a monthly/yearly basis dont bother me as long as everything is nicely put together and runs "trouble free" hahahaha

 

OP sorry But what is a expected cost of a solid roller setup?

 

i dunno what you ls1 guys spend on shafts...

sbc.... 1000 for a sportsman shaft rocker, 500 spring/retainer, 400 cam, 650 lifters, 250 pushrods. That's if you have a good valve already in it

 

I've ran both hydraulic roller cams and solid roller cams in my car. For a mostly race, occasional weekend cruizer I would go solid roller. If you drive the car more I would go with a hydraulic roller because of the extra wear and maintenance of a solid cam. Based on what you have said I wouldn't hesitate to put a solid roller in it. I went to a solid roller on my SBC about 5 years ago with no problems and now my new LS engine is a solid roller too.

With a high quality components(shaft mounted rockers) a solid roller doesn't require much adjustment. Solid cams used to require lots of adjustment and were a real pain(especially with stud girdles) but the new shaft systems are great. A good shaft mount rocker system is worth it for the extra performance and reliablity in my opinion. I check my lash 2-3 times per year and it requires very minimal adjustment. My springs would last about 3 years before they needed replacement. Thats with racing 5-6 times a year and driving to local cruise-ins and car shows on the weekend.

 

^^^ how much $$ do you have in that set up?

 

No worry about hijacking Zmg, that was a question i had too

 

Comp Custom grind cam $378
Crower Lifters $615
T&D shaft mount rockers arms $1055
Push Rods $156
Valve springs $265

Those are the prices I got through my machine shop. The total price for my 408 build including ported TFS heads, callies rotating assembly, port matched super victor, machine work, assembly etc was about 11K. You could spend more or less building something similar depending on what parts you choose and who you have build it but I think I got a pretty decent price. My machine shop gave me better prices on most components than I could get from summit or jegs. The only thing I supplied was the block, covers, and balancer.

I started the LS build from scratch once I sold my SBC so I had to buy all this stuff anyway whether I went hyd. or solid so it was an easy choice for me to go with a solid roller. It would be a harder choice if I already had the valvetrain setup for a hydraulic roller.

SS4Luck, my goals are similar to yours. I street drive my car a little and race a few times a year and I plan on keeping it N/A. I'm hoping my combo will run in the very low 10 range or maybe high 9 on a good air day. I'll find out how it runs later this year.

 

Im running a hydraulic cam and have had it to 7800 on the dyno w\ spray without issue.

 

You are going to have to get new heads that are clearanced for everything. You will NEED a double roller timing chain, no matter what anyone else says. Put a single chain setup on a solid roller is very ignorant IMO. Then you need to have the front cover clearanced to clear the dbl roller. My top end a couple of years ago including heads cam timing chain rockers lifters pushrods taller valve cover ect was a little over 7k for just parts.

 

The Kateck chain works fine...