slippi84

iTrader: (4)

Well I have to rebuild my LSX 454 anyway and I might as well take this opportuninty now that money is a little better to build her the way I should have in the first place. I want to go with a pretty aggressive street strip solid roller cam raise compression to something like 12:1(I want to run pump so that might be too high?) port them and change up my converter to something a little higher. My question is mainly about my valve train and what I will need to convert to a solid roller cam setup. Here's what I have so far:

Custom Solid roller cam
Stronger either beehive or dual have spring strong enough
Solid roller rocker setup
new push rods
Lifters(not sure which ones)

A little more insight from you guys in the know would be much appreciated as I have not messed with solid roller cam setups before.

Pumba

I am also building a 451 cubic inch LS solid roller engine.


Here are the valve train components that I am using:

Lifters - Isky: Keyed .937-inch, .150-inch offset, solid roller lifters, with DLC body coating

Lifter Bushings - Isky: .937-inch keyed bronze lifter bushings

Valve Springs - PSI Spring #PSICT1572ML-TC

Titanium Retainers - Xceldyne Elite #XRE572-LTW-MC - Moly-coated Titanium spring retainers

Titanium Valve Locks - Xceldyne #XLO693-C Titanium 8 degree Radius Groove valve stem locks

Valve Spring Seats - Xceldyne #XSS-3225 Chrome-moly spring seats

Pushrods - Smith Brothers: 7/16-inch x .095-inch wall, heat treated, chrome moly pushrods

Rocker Arms - JESEL Pro-J2K Mohawk aluminum 1.8:1 Shaft-type, roller rocker arms, with .125-inch beam and roller needle tip


Good Luck with your build.

87silverbullet

iTrader: (11)

May I ask why the solid conversion? If it is to take advantage of the more aggresive ramp rate then I can see it but you are rolling in a TBSS and you need more torque than anything and not rpm. I would just put a good HR setup in there and be done.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Why solid roller?

TurboBuick6

iTrader: (2)

I would stay hydro unless you are building a stip only car. Not worth the hassle IMO.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Yup...

slippi84

iTrader: (4)

To my understanding a solid roller setup gives you the support to run a more agressive cam. I was going to run a custom cam that would make say the same downlow and more mid and top end power. Is this wishful thinking?

427

iTrader: (3)

The solid will allow more aggressive valve action and gain you some top rpm stability/power. The problem is the lifters life is limited, the best I have ever done without od trans is 5000 miles on one set. The solid is called for in all out race mode and will not be reliable in normal street cars without high time/cost maintenance.


Kurt

LS1MCSS

iTrader: (18)

You got that maintenance crap right. I tried that **** in an SBC powered street car many years ago. Biggest mistake I ever made.

Pumba

Last February I had the opportunity to spend the day in the Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines shop in Welcome, North Carolina. ECR builds 5.0L LS engines for Daytona Prototype road race cars, in addition to all the NASCAR engines they design and build. These 305 cubic inch naturally-aspirated LS engines run on gasoline and are limited to 7,100 rpms by the sanctioning body. Inspite of these restrictions, they make 605 horsepower.

I too had planned to use a .842" hydraulic roller lifter-camshaft combination in my new LS motor. When I spoke with the ECR Prototype Shop foreman, who builds the LS motors about my camshaft-lifter combination, he politely told me to rethink my plans. His bottom line was, solid roller lifter components are much different today than they were as late as three years ago.

It is expensive, but the latest solid roller lifter components are highly reliable and do not require the adjustments that the older systems did. See my list of components above. They are the result of the discussion with ECR.

87silverbullet

iTrader: (11)

2 different worlds.

I don't doubt the technology advancement of the LS valvetrain because it is evolving everyday. What I don't understand is you would talk to someone in the world of high rpm sustaining engines for a motor more for drag racing.

Let's get on the same page, your engine is for drag racing or just puttering around to the grocery or to road race?

I have no doubt in my mind that the guy you talked to is a very knowledgeable guy in the engine building world but not the right guy for an engine to be driven on the street or drag raced. In this case even with you saying about how the technology has evolved and advanced, I'm sticking with Kurt's advice about solid roller setups in engines.

One more thing, be normal and stop typing in blue, it makes my eyes hurt.

Pumba

Let me help you understand:

1) My example was of an LS Road Race engine that is limited to 7,100 rpms, not the 10,500 rpms that the flat tappet NASCAR Cup engines can turn.

2) My engine will be used for street driving, Road Racing, and Open Road Racing.

3) I will limit my rpms to 7,500 even though the valve train is stable beyond 8,000.

4) The lift at the valve of my cam is .750 inches, using 1.8:1 rocker arms.


The ECR Prototype Shop Foreman's point in suggesting a .937 inch solid roller package was that it gave the camshaft designer much more latitude in his lobe design than a .842 inch hydraulic roller package.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

What's your point? I don't see anything about drag racing in your colorful excuse for putting your 2 cents in. For what the op wants, there is no reason for a solid roller setup, let alone spending the money on one.

I see no merit to either of your posts other than to brag about your **** and to make yourself stand out in a world where 12pt times new roman just won't cut it.

TurboBuick6

iTrader: (2)

Let's make this easy. OP you have never messed with solid roller before? Unless you can hook up with a great engine builder who is familiar with solid roller setups on LS platforms to show you the ropes on maintaining lash and what to check periodicly, I would highly suggest staying Hydro. Now if you are heart set on solid, just be ready to soak in tons of knowledge, because there will be things you will have to check often durring the first X amount of miles to ensure a long valvetrain life.

Lets get away from weather or not solid is reliable or not because it is, there are plenty of SR cars on the street. Lets get to weather or not the OP has the knowledge and capabilities of maintaining said valvetrain. That is the question you need to ask yourself.

Pumba

Great points

CAMSTER

iTrader: (10)

Pumbas last point is rite, my engine runs nothing but S/Rollers but i do all my work, solids require periodic valve lash adjustment, which is a joy for me but requires knowing what you are doing, now if the OP is willing to dish out the cash for the needed parts, then theres no better system, other than that just need to know every 6 months or so check and adjust valve lash, and this is not hard to learn at all.

I have Comp Cams elite lifters, they are polished and deburred and very light weight, which is highly important, and are just drop in, T&D 1.8 shaft rockers with the light weight option, hollow stem SS intake valves .083 thick wall push rods 3/8 diameter, i use .040 restrictor oil holes in mines, now the "CAM" that is the brain of the motor so have it spec for your application, my personal favorite Camhelp@Guerragroup.com I like Patrick G cause unlike all the hype about aggressive ramps, this guy uses circle track lobes design that you can live with and make a ton of power, heres a trick when selecting a cam for the street, select the shifting points at 6,800 and 7,200 max rpms, higher will idle too high for st app. a really comfortable is with shifting points at 6,600 for 4.00 strokes or longer.
You are looking at spending 4.k. for lifters, rockers, cam, intake valves, springs and push rods, just can't skimp here, but then who needs boost?

Street compression ratio for pump gas 11.5 OK E85 i ran 12.8 and requires a lot of radiator.

I got a bunch of good parts from Mast performance with great savings on their springs i use 425 lbs open pressure for the shifting points at 6,800 and is all you need if you get the light weight parts, else the T&D rockers from them and the valves, theres many options to be had on the rockers, be sure to ask and understand, you do want the roller tips instead of just shaft and wheel

Fbodyjunkie06

iTrader: (10)

Just use a more aggressive hydraulic lobe such as a LSL lobe.

slippi84

iTrader: (4)

I was a diesel mechanic and worked 60 series engines which need injector and valve adjustments during tune ups so I'm familiar with how to check and adjust valve lash but if going solid rocker won't gain me much performance wise in a setup that needs tq and low end more than top end then I'm good