[stonedchihuahua]

k there are solid, hydrolic, and roller and then roller hydrolic... What the hell is the difference... which adds the most hp and what is the price difference... also what other things do you need to do to your engine to run these different lifters..

[nicefrog]

Gidday
I don't know much about this but since I've been deciding between hydraulic or solid lifters and reading a bit about them I wanted to get in on this discussion.

hydraulic lifters are like a mini shock absober they have oil inside that can drain out of the lifter so they are kind of spongey but as the speed of the engine increases the oil gets a hydralic lock up and they stay almost solid.

Solid lifters as far as I know are a solid chunk of steel with no movement what so ever and as far as dyno software tells me they make more power everywhere, I guess because they open the valves faster I'm favouring these at the moment for my engine

Roller lifters come in hydraulic and solid versions and have a wheel under the lifer that rolls over the camshaft reducing resistance and it also allows the camshaft to have bigger ramps without breaking against the lifter so hence more power again

About what different parts you need to runs these different lifters, hydraulic and solid go straight in but with the solid lifters you need to leave a small amount of play (gap) in the rocker arm to valve since there is no give in any of the parts and you don't want anything to bend break or wear out fast from being under too much load. With a hydraulic lifter you do it up untill there is no play in the system it's ok since the lifter is bendy : ) I don't know what you need to do for roller lifters they are way out of my price range and horse power needs anyway :/

[stonedchihuahua]

Don't solid lifters wear... isn't this what causes ticking in old engines especially late 70s and mid 80s fords???? or bagged 85 camaro engines like mine??? Should you reuse solid lifters or for the price are you better off getting new ones?

[DoubleVision]

Solid lifters were dropped all the way across the board by GM in the early days unless you got a high performance engine such as the LT1 in 1970. Solid lifters do make more power, but they cause increased valve train wear along with that annoying constant ticking. they also have to be adjusted every so often because the lash characteristics change. there are solid roller lifters, mushroom solid lifters and "varible duration" lifters just to name 3 more not mentioned. a Roller does everything better than a flat tappet cam, but the cost of a roller cam and lifters is why most don`t bother. the 2nd post covered the ball park pretty much.

[ December 14, 2002: Message edited by: DoubleVision ]</p>

[Super Streeter]

And that ticking you hear in tired old engines is from worn out old hydraulic lifters.On a solid lifter cam,all 16 lifters click.The best way to describe the sound of a solid lifter motor at idle is like a whole room of sewing machines running at the same time.Not a steady tick,but rather the clatter of 16 lifters ticking in unison.Solid lifters move the valves faster.If done right,they require little or no maintainace{pickup trucks and old jap cars went for hundreds of thousands of miles without lash adjustments},but they are always a litle noisy.Roller lifters are a mixed bag.For a mild street engine,hydrualic rollers offer an advantage and power gain,but as rpm increases or if you attempt to run radical cam ramps the hydraulic part of the lifter will not function properly.Solid rollers make more power then anything,but they are very hard on parts.While it is subject to debate about how many miles a solid roller cam can go,I doubt anybody will tell you that they logged 50,000 miles or even 15,000 miles on a solid roller cam without either replacing the valvesprings or the lifters,so they arent really recommended fr a real street car.Good luck.

[stonedchihuahua]

I see... how bad to solid lifters sound??? If they give me more performance what are the disadvantages other than the ticking?

[rooster]

a solid lifter has to be ajusted regularly because of wear and high valve spring pressure to keep from getting valve float across the cam lobe .hydr are more streetable with no ajustment you might say prices are close to the same for these two. hydr roller is going to be you best choice with a roller tip wide cam lobe excellent performance no valve float but a lot higher in price for a reason . solid roller race application only . hdyr-solid 28-80 dollars a set roller 259-up!!!.

[stonedchihuahua]

I see and to adjust you have to pull off your manifold?

[zachscc]

You don't have to take off the manifold to adjust solid lfters (unless you are replacing them) you just have to take off the valve covers and have a balencer that has O, 90,180, AND 270 Degree marks, if you are planning on trying to adjust solid lifters every month (if you drive like me) you will definatly not want to be a stoned anything or you will mess up your motor more than your head.

[Super Streeter]

I wonder what you are doing wrong.I run a 7500rpm bigblock chevy wih a solid lifter cam in it,I havent had to adjust my valves in 3 years and that includes over 400 dragstrip passes.I checked a few of them once,they were the same way I set them,so I left them.I had a 79 chevy pickup that had a straight 6 with solid lifters from the factory,I drove it 165,000 miles without taking the valve cover off.My dad had a boat with a 1968 international 345 with solid lifters,he owned it for 12 years and never needed to adjust the valves.I have never had to adjust lash on a properly set up engine.On my race motor,I have logged down what my valves recheck at when cold{after setting hot}and the last time I had the engine apart{3 years ago}I reassembled it and set the valves to the cold lash meaurements I had found.About a year later I did a hot lash check and they were right on spec,I never had to adjust any of them.Havent had the covers off since then,but the car runs great.If you are adjusting solid lifters on a regualr basis,you are doing something wrong.As for the guy who asked about how loud solid cams are,if you use a factory solid cam{such as the old LT1 or 350/327 cam,you will find that the lash setting are somewhat tight,and the solid cam will be pretty quiet{not anything like a noisy valvetap}.With many performance cams the lash spec is looser and it is more noticable.It isnt bad,but you can hear it with the hood shut.With dual exahsut and headers,the rest of the car will be way louder then any solid lifter tick.The only other thing to remember is that if by some odd chance you are running a computer colntrolled car,the ticking will set off the knock sensor which isnt good.Other then that,a solid lifter cam is a fiar step up over a hydraulic.Good luck.

[nicefrog]

I don't know about stonedchihuahua but I'm sold on solid lifters, the only trouble now is getting a solid cam grind that's mildish but not stockish seems that most of them start where hydraulics stop and that's not what I want

[stonedchihuahua]

Alright well I will talk to my buddy who is helping me with the engine and I think i am gunna go solid.. cheaper.. more power... and not too bad... Hehe even if it does tick and someone makes fun of the tick in my engine I will just have to show them the power that the ticking engine gives me... oh yeah as for computer control... I'm young but I'm not stupid... no computer crap for me

[TurboS10]

[quote]Originally posted by nicefrog:
<strong>I don't know about stonedchihuahua but I'm sold on solid lifters, the only trouble now is getting a solid cam grind that's mildish but not stockish seems that most of them start where hydraulics stop and that's not what I want</strong><hr></blockquote>

I gor mine from Isky. They make some good solid cams that are listed as circle track cams. I am running 246 @.50/501 lift/106lsa. It works well, but you need a good stall converter.

Additionally, I have not had any trouble with the lifters getting out of adjustment. I did at first untill I got a good set of Comp Cams locking nuts with allen set screws.

Chris

[Ohio-Dan]

The smallest solid cams "Off Shelf" are the Comp XS series.

http://www.compcams.com/information/...ID=-1371474547


Any grinder can make any cam you like for a few bucks. Dan

[stonedchihuahua]

So with solid lifters can you run a fairly high lift cam???? I don't know anything about cams other than big and lumpy is usually good... of course for drag racing...

oh yeah my car has a standard transmission

[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: stonedchihuahua ]</p>