[ItBites]

Ernie,

Been watching your posts a while. Take some advice or you'll end up with so much lower HP than you're used to that you'll be very unhappy.

Get the hyd roller cam!

I'll say it again, in case you weren't listening:

GET THE HYD ROLLER CAM!!!

Solid flat tappets are for high RPM, where you say you're trying to stay away from... WTF are you thinking, over?

Use the agressive ramp on the hyd roller to fill and evacuate the cylinder (remember its about area under the curve) and you will still have good power. Also no lash worries. I have a hyd roller in my Vette (the Cobra is a much nastier, high RPM, solid-roller cammed, 12.5:1 motor - that needs TLC and maintenance on a regular basis). The hyd roller in the Vette has been there for 13 years (50000 mi) or so. I have changed valve springs twice as PM and adjust the valves only at those times.

Do something like this:
Get CR to about 10.0:1
Get hyd roller cam with ~.600 - .640 lift
Get hyd roller cam with 112-114 (wide) lobe centers
Get hyd roller cam with ~230 deg duration at .050
Cam should be assymetric - talk to cam suppliers.

This combo will fill the cylinders nicely at 6000 RPM due to decent lift, even with short duration.

This combo will fool the motor into thinking it is higher CR due to low duration and wide lobe separation (high dynamic pressure created).

The Vette is about 4000lb and I run 12.4 @ 115mph at 1200 ft altitude with a similar combo (as driven around - if tuned well, it'll run faster).

Done right, you may not lose much power at all and may have more HP/torque at lower RPMs than now. which may get more area under the HP curve to the track by allowing you to get into the next gears sooner. Understand that the more HP curves you can go through in the 1/4 mile, the quicker you'll be (power=work/time).

Good Luck!