Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickt
High zinc, solid lifter cam friendly oils can be delivered to your door. High quality solid lifters are easily available. Quality cams are everywhere. The "danger window" of cam failures is in the past. If you want a high revving, street friendly, track friendly, low idle tolerant, long lasting, low maintenance and exceptionally cool sounding engine, solid flat tappets are the way to go. We're back where we were before the "they're trying to kill our engines" scare of a few years ago. Don't be afraid to put them in your Cobra.  |
Pat,
This is not meant in the spirit of the verbal duels we've had in the past with no ill will, criticism or irritation factor.
Everything in your description about flat solids is true-I have one myself and agree completely. However the point you
left out is the fact that rollers, either solid or hydraulic will make more power than a flat solid of the same lift and LSA. That's why guys like Hotfingrs use them and many are willing to swap springs or lifters every year if they have to. He found quality Crower lifters and has 5 years on them with 600+ open pressure-excellent.
The more aggressive ramp rates allowed by rollers account for that. I have routinely seen 15 to 60 more HP in A to B testing between the two types of cams. (with the same lift and LSA) The rollers all had slightly more duration because they could open and close them more rapidly.
Some guys want the last HP and conform to the needs of a very aggressive setup. It's about the POWER for them, not the noise or 'coolness factor'.