rhoads lifters

[Stryder67]

hey all. I'm putting together a 355 for my 67 c10 and came across the Rhoads original lifters. After reading on them they don't sound to terribly bad. The cam I have picked out is Lunati's 276/284 voodoo grind. Running Pro Comp aluminum heads with about 10.2:1 compression. Do you think these lifters are worth a try in it or am I barking up the wrong tree? Also as I understand it these lifters tick somewhat. Does this sound similar to a mechanical cam or is it noisier than that?

Thanks in advance
-Stryder67

[geezer#99]

Tick is not a quiet word for them.
I had some. Could hear them over the sweet sounds of Jim Hendrix at full warp on my cheap 8 track.
That tells you how many years ago that was!
I didn’t even know they still had them for sale.
Find some better lifters.
Or do what I did way back then.
Put a gear drive on it. You’ll never hear the lifters then!

[hans2]

I ran them in a small block a long time ago. As posted, a "tick" is a pretty generous way to describe. A well maintained solid lifter cam makes less noise than these.

I believe they did work as advertised, though. Effectively shortening the cam duration at idle and preventing lifter pump up at high RPM.

My $.02

[Stryder67]

So besides the noise you guys haven't had a problem with them at all?

[hans2]

I did have a few that didn't seem to bleed off as much as the others at idle (resulting in longer duration and higher lift than other valves, with the lift measured with a dial indicator on pushrod side of the rocker arm at idle). Made for a bit of an erratic vacuum signal and idle, and a hassle to tune the low end. It was a street/bracket racer so I didn't care back then, but I wouldn't run them now-a-days.

['68OrangeSunshine]

I got them when I was assembling parts for my 292 build. Some snazzy guy on the www.inliners.org forum said they were neater than sliced bread, the cat's meow and 23 skiddoo, all rolled into one.
So I assembled my .030-over 292 L6 w/ Crane 260H cam, oversize intake valves, and Rhoads Lifters. When I told my machinist, he got mad, saying my cam wasn't wild enough to need them, and I'd wasted my money.
Thirteen years later, I'm still cruising on my 292 w/ snazzy Rhoads lifters without any apparent ill effects. They do tick a bit, but I'm used to it, 292s are gear-driven anyway.

This may be an unrelated mystery event:
A couple of years ago, that motor started breaking exhaust valve springs -- one broke on #4, we replaced it; then another broke on #1 a few months later, and we replaced ALL the valve springs. Runs really great now after replacing them all, [and adding HEI] but I have wondered if it's Rhoads-related?
My mechanic says no.