Roller lifters LOL

[Irishbleueyes]

All this roller talk does anybody have experience with solid rollers?? I'm intrigued for a new build to go solid rollers, so any thoughts..

[vin63]

This will more than likely get moved to the Engine & Drivetrain forum. I run solid roller lifters in my race cars. What would you like to know?

[Irishbleueyes]

Originally Posted by vin63

This will more than likely get moved to the Engine & Drivetrain forum. I run solid roller lifters in my race cars. What would you like to know?

How they work for the street? Should be non wearing right? So why not use on the street?

[Cris]

Irish:

Google would be your friend on this topic because there are lots of trade-offs when going from hydraulic to solid roller lifters. In a nutshell, for the ultimate in performance, the solid roller is the best choice. Especially on a motor that makes it power north of 6000 RPM. The downsides of the solid roller are one, you have to set lash routinely. And second, they are relatively fragile compared to a hydraulic lifter.

Solid rollers are not damaged by friction, but by the hammering they take driving the valve open. Most solid rollers use needle bearings, and these will fail after several thousand street miles. The solid roller manufacturers have been improving this by using oil fed directly to the needle bearings and by replacing the needle bearings with bushings. Today you will find people that have run solid rollers on the street for 10's of thousands of miles, but this still ain't even close to the 100's of thousands of miles a hydraulic roller will last.

Unless you have a competition engine, hydraulic rollers would be the best choice. Search around and you will find high performance hydraulic roller lifters that still work well up to 6500 RPM.

[Robert Haas]

Well let me tell you sumptin sonny, My uncles next door neighbors grandson's gardener has a 265 veee ate that came from the factory with some of them thar solid rolling lifters. He figured the folks back in 1955 were trying to get one of them Bel Airs to go fast enough to win the Daytona 500, Yes sir that is the way it was told to me.

[1Ratty64]

Solid rollers are mostly delegated to competition use because they have reduced mass over hydraulic rollers and they are solid so they are not prone to the hydraulic pump up or bleed off at extremely high rpm. Reduced mass valve train that stays consistent throughout the entire RPM range.....sounds great.

Only problem with solids in street cars is they are noisy as hell, increased wear on valve train items because of impacts, require frequent lash adjustments and no one cruises the street holding 8-9K rpm so why even use them if the negatives are going to outweigh the positives in what you plan to use the vehicle for. If you are building a drag car that has a cam with a super fast ramp rate that might make a trip to town once or twice a month, then sure....but if you are going to be putting more street miles down than strip miles then your gonna regret it.

[Irishbleueyes]

Originally Posted by Robert Haas

Well let me tell you sumptin sonny, My uncles next door neighbors grandson's gardener has a 265 veee ate that came from the factory with some of them thar solid rolling lifters. He figured the folks back in 1955 were trying to get one of them Bel Airs to go fast enough to win the Daytona 500, Yes sir that is the way it was told to me.

Laughing so hard my wife asked me what the hell?? Had to explain to her all of this.. funny dude

[Irishbleueyes]

Originally Posted by 1Ratty64

Solid rollers are mostly delegated to competition use because they have reduced mass over hydraulic rollers and they are solid so they are not prone to the hydraulic pump up or bleed off at extremely high rpm. Reduced mass valve train that stays consistent throughout the entire RPM range.....sounds great.

Only problem with solids in street cars is they are noisy as hell, increased wear on valve train items because of impacts, require frequent lash adjustments and no one cruises the street holding 8-9K rpm so why even use them if the negatives are going to outweigh the positives in what you plan to use the vehicle for. If you are building a drag car that has a cam with a super fast ramp rate that might make a trip to town once or twice a month, then sure....but if you are going to be putting more street miles down than strip miles then your gonna regret it.

It does sound great! But not the noise part, or the harsh wear! My harley shovelhead has solid roller lifters and come to think of it, they are noisy when they get loose.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by Robert Haas

Well let me tell you sumptin sonny,..... .

https://youtu.be/8rQkjBuJD-4

.
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[urmyboyblue]

Go with hydraulic roller lifters unless you plan on high HP (600+ with a BBC) or high RPM (6500+). They don't require the maintenance and are easier on the valve train than a solid roller lifter. Hydraulic roller lifters are a factory thing if you get the right block.

[bpmcgee]

True story -- we converted my friends '75 corvette to hydraulic roller lifters, roller tip rockers, and the appropriate cam.

The decreased overlap was so effective that it passed emissions tests WITHOUT the required catalytic converter!

B

[vin63]

Originally Posted by Irishbleueyes

How they work for the street? Should be non wearing right? So why not use on the street?

As the others mentioned, the drawbacks are significant, but another thing that is a deterrent are the valve spring seat and over the nose pressures that will be needed, and as someone eluded to the maintenance of adjusting valve lash frequently. I run hydraulic roller lifters on all of my street driven hot rods.