solid lifters-hyd cam

[fryedaddy]

i have a comp cams 565-292 .243 @.050 hyd flat tappet cam in my 428. would it be a mistake or could i benefit from dropping some solid lifters in it.

[pbf777]

     Wouldn't recommend it!

     Generally, if the lobe profile is actually one designed for hydraulics, it will not present an appropriate 'clearance take-up ramp' as required with the mechanical lifter and the running clearance required for such.   

     But you can always measure the particular cam in hand and establish this for fact!   

     Scott.

[Falcon67]

Solid rollers on a hydro roller cam you can get away with, sorta, with caveats.  Flat tappet solid on a flat hydro - no.  Not IMHO.  The cam/lifter interface is extremely intimate and they should be made for their respective mating parts.  The "benefit" here would be that you would shortly be replacing it all with a better set of everything.

[BigBlueIron]

Not a recommendation but I have seen it done. Many moons ago my friend and I have a mud racing "truck" Suzuki samurai with a 390 with way to much compression backed by a c6, nine inch and dana 44 front on 34" cut boggers.  It really ran well. At the time it had the big Edelbrock hyd flat tappet cam. The owner decided to throw solid lifters on it and that really woke it up! Ran the rest of the season that way with no issues at all save for a few bent push rods due to an over rev. I still have the cam tucked away somewhere I doubt I ever use it except for a good core for a regrind. The engine came out that winter and some horse trading was done for a 528 with TF A460 top end. It was fun to watch.

[My427stang]

My post is all speculation, not experience....however

I would expect that the slower the ramp, the more likely it would work.  The reason I say that is that the lash ramp on a solid cam is less steep and allows the lifter to start spinning before spring pressure ramps up quickly.  So, if the lobe profile was slow, off the seat it'd likely spin and then after that not really an issue. 

However, if the lack of the lash ramp on a steeper lobe stalled the lifter, you'd be done in short order.

I have also heard of successes, and I believe Jay did it on an Edelbrock RPM cam successfully, but I'd be very leery to do iut without entering it with the acceptance it may eat a lobe

[Phil Brown]

Did it many years ago with a stock 428 cj cam, ran really well for many years
But I'm sure that does fall into that slow ramp category

[blykins]

If you find yourself having to do that and it works, then it means something in the system wasn't happy to begin with.  Either the cam lobes were too aggressive, the spring pressure wasn't enough, or the valvetrain was too heavy. 

In a lot of instances, problems with FE's and hydraulic cams present themselves because the valvetrain was too heavy.  FE valves are stinkin heavy. 

[fryedaddy]

bbm heads,motor runs great like it is  6000-6500 all day.the only reason i asked is its a easy swap when you have your intake off.

[e philpott]

I was involved in a 5.0 hydroplane boat class in the early 90's, 302 Ford and 305 Chevy's were the norm , Class called for a for a GM 2GC carburetor and a stock passenger car hydraulic camshaft but everyone ran solids with a hydraulic cam as there was no rule against it , on the stock stuff back then it didn't hurt anything

[Jim Kramer]

For the last 390 I built I was looking for a cam I liked and found something about right, but it was a hydraulic grind. I asked my machinist, ( who I was buying the cam through ) to call and ask if we could get that grind or something close on a solid lifter cam. The tech. guy, ( at Bullet I think ), said just buy the hydro cam and put solid lifters on it, and run the lash down to .003/.004, no problem. Thats what I did. I have about three thousand miles on it, no problem. I can't remember the grind number but it was a fairly mild cam.......Jim Kramer