What does it take to convert an LS1 motor from a hydraulic cam to a solid roller setup? What parts are need besides the cam, is there any machine work to the block required?

Is it also the same thing on the LQ4 truck block? I cant afford to order a resleeved block so if I decide to go with a big cube motor, so I would be using the LQ4 truck block instead.

 

You have to machine the heads, open up the holes for bigger pushrods.

 

thats it???

 

Well as far as I understand it, you need to machine the heads as John mentioned for larger pushrods, but you'll pretty much need to replace your entire valve train....... solid roller cam, solid lifters, pushrods, adjustable rockers (you need these to adjust your valve lash, a necessity for a solid roller motor), and definately double valve springs for strength cause there's no point going solid roller unless you're going to go big (cam wise.)

 

AND... You might need to go to a longer valve if the springs you use call for something like 1.900 installed height, since stock can only go to 1.800.

 

I'd give Geoff @ Thunder and/or Allan Futral a call. They know how to set up valvetrains for SR. My 3/8" pushrods did require some significant opening of the heads, and the springs etc are definitely on the beefy side. I've got the complete build sheets with all the clearances / measurements on my motor, but I don't know how much Geoff wants made public. Spring heights & pressures, all that stuff. They're not 1.9" tho.

-Andrew (lovin' the solid roller )

 

what lifters can you use? anythig from crane

 

I dont know what all is required and I do agree with the suggestion to call Geoff @ thunder racing.

As for the pushrod hole opening, that can be done with a drill and a drill bit in about 10 minutes. "machining" is kinda a scary sounding term for it. I have pics of Visceral "machining" his heads....we called it molesting the heads at the time, but machining sounds better I suppose.

 

How oftem do you have to adjust the valves on a solid?

I'm really impressed with the drivability of Cammin Beasst's Futral setup.

 

Braver than I. You just use a handdrill or a drill press? How did you make sure that you drilled straight and didn't F it up?

 

Me too!! My Futral solid roller drives 100 times better than my old heads/cam ever did. I love it. Makes another 60rwhp too

As for adjusting the valves, it depends on how crazy you get with the cam. Ill be checking mine every oil change to be on the safe side.

As for specifics on solid rollers, ya need a camshaft, solid lifters, larger springs, machining for the springs, larger pushrods, machining ( molesting) of the heads for pushrods, adjustable rockers. That should about cover it. I would definately use someone who has experience in solid roller motors if you are going to go this route. Im damn glad I did

 

Its actually really easy, we just used a normal hand held drill and a bit drill bit. There isn't much to drill through so it really doesnt matter if you arent straight up and down. You'd see what I mean if you had a bare head in front of you.

CamminBeast, how high is the lift on your cam? I heard that some of the high lift cars were having oil pressure issues since the lifters would come up out of the bores too much and that'd cause the oil pressure to releive itself. Probably not a concern on a lot of setups.

 

Don't forget valve cover spacers or aftermarket valve covers - which by the way are expensive.
There is nothing budget about solid roller set-up's for these motor's. Plan on spending 2,000 to 3,000 on the conversion. I just researched all this myself and decided to stay hydralic and go big cube instead.

 

Hey Jon,

I know you asked Beast, but I thought I'd chime in. My cam has .65" lift on both I&E, and at hot idle (850 RPM), I see about 25-30 PSI. But as soon as it hits any revs at all, the pressure goes to 40+. No problems here. And AFAIK my lifter bores were not sleeved.

-Andrew

 

If you think about it, the holes are no big deal at all... if we were talking about a traditional SBC with stud mount "floating" rockers (where the rocker is pushed up against the bottom of the adjusting nut/ball by the pushrod on one end, and the valve on the other end), then the holes would need to function kind of like guide plates to keep everything in line (think about what'd happen if the rocker rotated around the rocker stud; self-aligning rockers with little alignment tabs on the valve end were used on traditional SBC's from the factory). However, with the quasi-shaft mount rockers in the LSx, the pushrods will stay in place as long as they are the proper length.

 

Yeah, it really wasnt a huge deal in the end. I was just SO f^*&(ng frustrated at the time that a drill bit into stage 3 LS6 castings was juuuuust fine. One of those things where a vendor told me it would "Bolt right up...Ive done it several times before". Luckily I had the vendors home number that night and didnt hesitate to use it.

jmX: "You are calling him now? Its 1 am. It has to be 3 or 4 am in Canada" ;-)
chris: "He's not answering. Where's the drill? I need like a 7/16th bit."

those days sucked. That was when MTI had the only solid roller around. If I was to do a solid roller setup again, I'd hand the car to a vendor and say "When it runs like it should, give it back to me." and there are several vendors these days like Thunder, Futral, etc. that are GREAT at doing that and taking good care of you. Im gonna see how much I love my 388 all bore, and then if Im still gainfully employed a year later, send the car to one of those folks for a stroker rotating assembly or a solid setup.

chris

 

btw... You mention on a stock shortblock...
You will have to flycut the pistons in the block in order to have p/v clearance for an solic cam worth putting in the car. People have done this, but it sure is nicer to have a bottom end with valve reliefs in the pistons.

chris

 

Cammin BeaSSt, is the solid roller able to be daily driveable? I wouldn't mind doing that if it could still be daily driven with no compromises

 

It all depends on how radical you want to go CANNIBAL. I had mine built to have the ability to drive everyday eventhough I wont. I will admit, my solid roller is quite aggressive and it drives 1000 times better than my old heads/cam with a GM ASA cam. Just keep the valves adjusted and check the valve springs about once a year and you should be GTG.Its definately fun spinning her to 7200

 

I wonder how much more power it would put out, 50 or 60 more? How hard is your solid roller on your springs?