Collapsed lifter and switching to solid roller
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TECH Regular
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 405
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Collapsed lifter and switching to solid roller I did a no no and reused “OE” style LS7 lifters from EBay (more than likely made in China junk) from a previous engine build instead of going with higher priced better quality lifters.. when I removed them from the previous build they looked fine and the rollers looked okay.
The old build was a turbo 5.3 with a ls9 spec cam. Long story short, too much boost and my destroyed my transmission. While removing the trans I noticed evidence showing my heads lifted.
Current build is a 6.0 with a Howard cams 232/236 .625/.625 112lsa, forged rotating assembly, fly cut pistons, CNCd LS6 heads from TSP, dual springs. Also went with a t56 magnum.
this is in my 67 Chevelle....
Anyway, I have about 1800 miles on this new build and I recently noticed a ticking sounds from the passenger side. Definitely not a rod knock as I’ve experienced that before, not this build. I pulled the valve covers, FP relay and plugs and had my helper (wife) turn the engine over. It appears that cylinder #4‘s intake rocker is not rocking as much as the other rockers.. the valve doesn’t seem to be opening as much as the others. Also, when my wife stopped turning the engine over I noticed that the #4 intake lifter bleeds down allowing the valve to close.
I’m going to have replace the lifters. I’d like to go solid lifters. Not just because I’ve had issues with these hydraulic lifters, but I like that they are lighter weight and can help the engine rev over 7k.
few questions I have are who has run solid lifters on the street, what setup do you have (lifters, rockers etc)
can I use my current cam with solid lifters or do I need to get a specific cam designed for solid lifters.
The old build was a turbo 5.3 with a ls9 spec cam. Long story short, too much boost and my destroyed my transmission. While removing the trans I noticed evidence showing my heads lifted.
Current build is a 6.0 with a Howard cams 232/236 .625/.625 112lsa, forged rotating assembly, fly cut pistons, CNCd LS6 heads from TSP, dual springs. Also went with a t56 magnum.
this is in my 67 Chevelle....
Anyway, I have about 1800 miles on this new build and I recently noticed a ticking sounds from the passenger side. Definitely not a rod knock as I’ve experienced that before, not this build. I pulled the valve covers, FP relay and plugs and had my helper (wife) turn the engine over. It appears that cylinder #4‘s intake rocker is not rocking as much as the other rockers.. the valve doesn’t seem to be opening as much as the others. Also, when my wife stopped turning the engine over I noticed that the #4 intake lifter bleeds down allowing the valve to close.
I’m going to have replace the lifters. I’d like to go solid lifters. Not just because I’ve had issues with these hydraulic lifters, but I like that they are lighter weight and can help the engine rev over 7k.
few questions I have are who has run solid lifters on the street, what setup do you have (lifters, rockers etc)
can I use my current cam with solid lifters or do I need to get a specific cam designed for solid lifters.
I have run three different solid setups. Street and max effort street/strip. Current build is heading toward full sausage.
I have used stock rockers, non adjustable roller tips and adjustable rockers. Only issue I ever had was my fault from missing a cup and bending a pushrod.
You will need to cut a new cam for them. There are several options. For the street low lash solids are best and imo the easiest to setup. All of my solid cams have come from cam motion.
In the stickies - check out the thread titled clown lash solid experiment started by thunderstruck to get an idea how to run a solid roller setup on stock rockers. If you keep the stock rockers, keep lift at or under .625. I also recommend lash caps just to help spread the load on the tip
I have used stock rockers, non adjustable roller tips and adjustable rockers. Only issue I ever had was my fault from missing a cup and bending a pushrod.
You will need to cut a new cam for them. There are several options. For the street low lash solids are best and imo the easiest to setup. All of my solid cams have come from cam motion.
In the stickies - check out the thread titled clown lash solid experiment started by thunderstruck to get an idea how to run a solid roller setup on stock rockers. If you keep the stock rockers, keep lift at or under .625. I also recommend lash caps just to help spread the load on the tip
Darth is on the money here. And to add to the conversation, all the hype about a solid setup being a maintain experience nightmare is just silly. I run a solid setup myself and trust me, once the valvetrain is setup right, you won’t have to touch it again for a very long time. A trained ear, such as yourself...since you heard the hydraulic lifter tap...can easily identify when the next adjustment is needed, which will likely be once yearly, more of you don’t daily drive the Chevelle. Today’s solid roller setups are night and day different than roller setups from the past, from both a performance and maintained standpoint.
