In 2022, what's the consensus on running a solid roller on a "somewhat" daily driver. Something that will be driven, nearly, every day except for chances of rain. Is it still better to run a hydraulic roller in this instance? Looking for maximum performance without "too much" maintenance. If its checking lash every oil change (2000-2500mi), that's something I can live with.

 

CamMotion LLSR have a great following on LS1 tech. If I wasn’t doing a LSA swap, I’d run one. There’s more cost stepping up to a LLSR vs. hydro cam.

 

Yes, I'm aware of the cost difference.

 

It looks like a good fit for you. I’d call CamMotion and have them spec you a complete setup. Try the SEARCH function for CamMotion LLSR. There should be a lot of happy threads

 

I seem to recall someone had a Cam Motion low lash solid roller on display at PRI in 2016 with 28,000+ miles on it and it was in excellent condition. Anyway I've read on LS1TECH one had 28k+ miles no issues.

high-mileage-low-lash-solid-rollers Yellow Bullet

 

This is good to hear. Would take me a few years to put down that kind of mileage.

 

Yup, doing that now. It's been a while since I've looked into it.

 

Bobby at Cam Motion is a friend of mine and he has me talked into a LLSR. According to him, there an employee at Cam Motion that has one in her vette. I believe he said has over 60k miles and has never had or needed an adjustment.
As mentioned above, the cost is more, but the power is better and reliability is 10 fold vs hydraulic.

 

I have set up three LLSR setups using this method and have greatly enjoyed them:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...1811105&page=1

I honestly prefer this method over the adjustable rockers for lift up to .625 for several reasons.

1. No valve cover bullshit
2. Adjusters do not come loose
3. They are QUIET
4. Lash did not change even after 10k miles.

Every llsr I've taken down has been unrelated to the llsr. My 346 bottom end was done. That cam and lifters went into another engine. My 428, I did a head swap and my well-documented pushrod error (missed the cup). Prior to the head swap, that cam had close to 10k on it.

Honestly I've had more trouble out of adjustable valve trains than shimmed, non adjustable valve trains for daily drivers.

 

The key in your description here is daily driver so there are some limitations as far as how radical you can go and be practical. I think they have come a long way on these and if you are checking every 2,000-2,500 miles I think that will help. However, the power gain might not be that much depending on the rpm you are going to assuming similar at .050 cams and marginal lift differences. At 6,000-6,500 maybe not so much but at 7,000 you might see something. I think also depends on what you go for valve train if you have titanium valves / hollow stem etc. as that can affect performance at the higher rpms which the solid roller would help with better if you do not have these items/correct springs. It also depends on the roller are you talking about going/coming from and OEM roller or a Johnson limited travel roller as with the latter there may be less of a difference. I think they did a test and it was like 10-15 hp at 6,700-7,000 rpm (600 hp motor) with a valve train that was good to begin with (assuming similar cams). Now if you are able to add a lot more lift while keeping duration the same there may be more power there while keeping drivability the same. When doing the cam I think you add 5-7 degrees from your hydraulic roller to get the same duration for the solid cam. The guys at Camotion know their stuff.

 

Speaking of daily drivers, given someone has a 60,000+ mile LLRS, do think 100,000+ mile reliably would be possible?

That's with proper care like replacing valve springs when needed of course and checking lash as needed. I'm a fan of shimmed on hydraulic too, for best pattern.

 

Yes I do. I think that replacing the springs would be the key. That and keeping the lift lower so as to reduce spring stress. I wouldn't expect a .700 lift to last 100K daily driving without replacing springs, regardless of solid or hydraulic. But I do think a LLSR cam set up to work with LS6 springs would last just as long as the factory cam.

 

That is SO amazing. 20 years (or even less...) ago anyone would have been thought crazy to even suggest using solid lifters AND stock non-adjustable rockers would be a dependable, maintenance free, long-life setup. Setting it up is the biggest pain of it, or it would be a factory setup.

 

How big of a cam are you thinking? I run a 250/259 hydro cam on a 102mm turbine and its about a perfect street setup as it sounds like an NA car but spools super fast. Guessing solid roller specs would be close to 255/265 for a comparable cam, not sure I would notice 10hp for the increased cost but perhaps the gains keep climbing north of 7500RPM.

Anyone ever try the COMP LST solid kits? Appears they shim the pushrod instead of the rocker with 250/260 and 258/272 cams.

 

Very true.

Ironically, the new flat plane crank 2023 C8 Z06, will have a solid shimmed valve train to support its 8,600 factory rpm redline. Computer selected shims multiple step testing and valve train set for life of the engine. Times have changed indeed.

 

Hopefully they find a better spring then the ones failing in the LT2

 

Solid shimmed OHC engines are very common. The lifetime shim adjustment is I assume an advancement in material science. Even low performance 4 cylinders needed a lash adjustment after a while.

 

Very true.

Fwiw - Speaking of low performance 4 cylinders, according my local Honda dealer, they'd never heard of doing a valve adjustment. According to the owners manual with my 06 Accord, it needed adjustment at ~120,000 miles. Dealership was dumbfounded.

 

Honda was playing it very safe. Not surprised about that....

 

What I notice is higher rpm stability. I think the cam size means less than the lift. If you are running that cam at under 625 lift I'm sure it would last a good long time in llsr