Any Solid Roller Guys Daily Drive?
i don't have any experience with this, YET. I plan on driving a pretty radical solid roller about 50-100 miles per week, mostly on the freeway however at about 3500-4000 rpm cruise which the lifters will be thankful for. From the many people I've talked to the, the comp endurex line seems to hold up VERY well in a street driven application. From what I understand fastfatboy's lifters went into comp for a rebuild after 8500 miles and they looked brand new. Running the correct spring for the valvetrain mass, rpm range, and lobe is CRITICAL to make these things live. Underspringing is worse on the lifter than overspringing, float will kill the rollers quickly. I'd go straight to a nextek or isky tool room type spring, they're spendy but IMO the best springs on the market.
I guess what i'm saying is, talk to a good valvetrain guy and have him set you up with everything with street driving in mind. I'll let fastfatboy chime in about his setup, he's "been there done that," I'm still in the planning stage. PM sent...
I guess what i'm saying is, talk to a good valvetrain guy and have him set you up with everything with street driving in mind. I'll let fastfatboy chime in about his setup, he's "been there done that," I'm still in the planning stage. PM sent...
Three things come to mind if you are going to drive on the street in most any conditions:
Do not skimp on your valvetrain. Buy the best quality components you can.
Do not go too high on compression ratio. You cannot use a stock knock sensor so either you go without or you get a monitoring system as the FATBOY has illustrated. I'm sure he has a good story as to why that is needed.
Find a good tuner. Get your car dyno tuned. Do not use a mail order tune for street use. If you can't trailer your car then at least get a mail order tune and keep your foot out of it until you can get it dyno tuned.
Do not skimp on your valvetrain. Buy the best quality components you can.
Do not go too high on compression ratio. You cannot use a stock knock sensor so either you go without or you get a monitoring system as the FATBOY has illustrated. I'm sure he has a good story as to why that is needed.
Find a good tuner. Get your car dyno tuned. Do not use a mail order tune for street use. If you can't trailer your car then at least get a mail order tune and keep your foot out of it until you can get it dyno tuned.
All good info here. Solid roller motors can be quite reliable if built right. I put over 8000 miles on one of my solid motors in 9 months without a single hiccup. I even took the car on 6 hour road trips and was seeing 22mpg. However, I had to learn the hard way on what parts to buy. You absoultely cannot skimp out on a good valvetrain. Expensive, yes. But, it's better than having a lifter fail and cracking the engine block in the lifter bore 
Second bit of advice.....only listen to the guys who actually own/drive/have built solid roller motors. There is alot of bad information out there. Every person in this thread so far actually has built/owns a solid setup. So, listen to first hand experience.
Good lifters and valvesprings along with precise valvetrain geometry measurement are the KEY to a reliable setup.
Jason
Second bit of advice.....only listen to the guys who actually own/drive/have built solid roller motors. There is alot of bad information out there. Every person in this thread so far actually has built/owns a solid setup. So, listen to first hand experience.
Good lifters and valvesprings along with precise valvetrain geometry measurement are the KEY to a reliable setup.
Jason
Personally know a SR 406 that was driven from chicagoland to florida and back without a single adjustment......If you're interested I can get you specific parts that were used but leave it to pm's
I drive the crap out of mine, there is a cruise here every year that I routinely put over 500 miles on the car in 3-4 days in traffic in the heat.
Call someone who KNOWS how to setup the car, tell that person EXACTLY what your goals are and how much you plan on driving the car and your experience level as far as mechanical apptitude goes...all these factors play a role.
You cant skimp on parts, I have Isky tool room springs, in 8500 miles they only lost 10lbs of pressure...impressive to me. I have titanium locks and retainers by Xcyledyne(sp?)
For 8500 miles I ran a Comp extreme .080 wall 5/16 pushrod, I switched to 3/8 .135 wall this round.
Buy a quality lifter, I am a believer in the Comp Endurex, they have served me well. But remember this, its not all about the lifter being your saving grace. Its about the whole package. The ramps on the cam, idle oil pressure, type of oil used, oil change intervals to keep an eye on things.
Call someone who KNOWS how to setup the car, tell that person EXACTLY what your goals are and how much you plan on driving the car and your experience level as far as mechanical apptitude goes...all these factors play a role.
You cant skimp on parts, I have Isky tool room springs, in 8500 miles they only lost 10lbs of pressure...impressive to me. I have titanium locks and retainers by Xcyledyne(sp?)
For 8500 miles I ran a Comp extreme .080 wall 5/16 pushrod, I switched to 3/8 .135 wall this round.
Buy a quality lifter, I am a believer in the Comp Endurex, they have served me well. But remember this, its not all about the lifter being your saving grace. Its about the whole package. The ramps on the cam, idle oil pressure, type of oil used, oil change intervals to keep an eye on things.
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Joined: May 2002
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From: windsor, ont. canada - Home of the fastest LT1 6spd.
good valve train
geometry is also important!
between lifters, pushrods, rockers, and springs i have over 2k invested. not counting the 800 in valves and the EB ported AFR 227 castings. so yeah i have over 5k in the heads. any issues.......no.as well no regrets either. manley makes some kickass parts! not cheap but tried and true!
geometry is also important!
between lifters, pushrods, rockers, and springs i have over 2k invested. not counting the 800 in valves and the EB ported AFR 227 castings. so yeah i have over 5k in the heads. any issues.......no.as well no regrets either. manley makes some kickass parts! not cheap but tried and true!
Agreed with the above. I have my heads off now. I'm running stud mount rockers. My valves, guides, seats are perfect and springs are within 5lbs from 3 years ago. I give credit to good valvetrain geometry.
recently i've been driving mine over 100 miles a week......to work on nice days and crusing around on weekends. I've put about 1500 miles on it this year so far and with a gianormous cam its perfect. the rollers look good the rockers and springs are all good as well. even my lash is still good....nothing moved at all.....
