Lash Recommendation

[Nightmist66]

After installing my new rocker setup, I experienced a few collapsed hyd. lifters. So now, the plan is to ditch them for some solids.

This is on a factory iron block and factory iron heads.

Current cam specs:

Wolverine Blue Racer hyd. flat tappet
Lift- .536int .562exh
Advertised duration- 290°int 300°exh
Duration @.050- 224°int 234°exh
LSA- 110°
ICL- 105°

Current valve spring pressure is about 130-135lbs on the seat and 360ish open.

What do you think I should run for lash cold, and/or hot? Thanks.

[blykins]

My semi educated guess is .005" cold.   Gotta be careful on how you set them though, because you can get to a point where it will hang the valves open when cold and make it a little fussier to start. 

I'd just put another set of hydraulics in it.....

[machoneman]

Mighty iffy as Brent said. I'd also go hydro again or......get a solid cam and matching lifters.

[cjshaker]

Am I missing something here? Aren't solid lifters on a hydraulic cam a no-no? Solid cams have gentler slopes to take up that lash, hydraulics don't.

Also, he said this was an iron block with iron heads. I've never seen any solid lifter lash as tight as .005 cold. Not even anywhere near that. On aluminum heads, yes, but not iron.

[blykins]

You're not missing anything.  A lot of your hydraulic cams will accept solid lifters.

Using that kind of combination though, requires a very tight lash spec because of the lobe shapes as you pointed out.   You can't lash it like you would a solid cam, you lash it really tight. 

It's not a perfect scenario, but guys do it pretty frequently. 

(BTW, on a separate note, there are "tight lash" solid cam lobes out there.  They don't run at .005" lash, but they will run at .010-.011".)

[Nightmist66]

My semi educated guess is .005" cold. 

Thanks Brent. I've never run lash that tight with a solid before, but then again, I haven't tried running the solid lifters on a hyd. cam before. Would you say .008" cold and maybe .012"-.014" hot, or is that too much?

Also, after looking at my hydraulic lifter side by side with a dumbbell lifter, it appears the dumbbell has a deeper pushrod cup. I don't want to buy pushrods again, cuz I just had to go through making some for my new rocker setup. Are there any non-dumbbell type solids that have a less deep pushrod cup?

Also, don't want to sound dumb here, but would a small block lifter bleed too much oil pressure with the lash of the solid and non-pushrod oiling system? Just weighing my options here. Thanks.

[blykins]

Too much lash.  You will most likely wear parts a lot quicker with that combo  than with an appropriate solid lifter cam or another set of hydraulic lifters.  When I say tight lash, I really mean tight.  .005" would prob be my max and with an FE rocker ratio, it would probably be best to go even tighter.

With the duration that you're running, a solid lifter is not going to transform your engine into something it's not. 

On a cast iron block with iron heads, the lash will not grow that much hot....maybe stay the same as cold or possibly grow a thou or two...that's what I normally see here.

In all honestly, it would be best to run another set of juice lifters.

To answer your sbf lifter question, no it won't bleed too much oil out, but pushrod length will change.  All of my FE solid flat tappet engines run Crower SBF EDM lifters.

[Nightmist66]

Thanks again Brent. Your help is much appreciated.

I think I may get some Howards or Crower hydraulics to replace what I have. I just looked up the Johnson lifters on their website, and they are $320 for solids and $400-450 for hydraulics.

[machoneman]

I do think you can beat those prices by a lot if you shop around. Heck, for that kind of money I'd be shopping a lot!

[Nightmist66]

Decided to go with these:





Very nice lifters. They have the exact same dimensions as my old ones. So best of all, no buying new pushrods.

[cjshaker]

Just my opinion, but I think you made a good choice sticking with hydraulic lifters on that cam. Hopefully that'll be the last of your problems.