Roller Lifers

[hwoods]

can you run solid roller lifers on a  Hydraulic roller cam?  Barry, your cam?  got Morel Hydraulic  Lifters, but just wondering if any advantage to run a solid roller lifter.  Valve Springs?  I know, dumb question
Thanks

[scott foxwell]

You can but why would you?
You have to be careful. there is no lash ramp on a hyd cam lobe. You can only run a couple/few thousandths hot lash. If you have alum. heads, that means zero cold lash.
Again, though, why would you? There is no advantage.

[Joe-JDC]

This question comes up occasionally, and I asked the Crane Cams camshaft designer that very question when the roller camshafts first became available back in 1987 for the SBF as an aftermarket upgrade.  He told me that you cannot run HR lifters on a solid roller camshaft, but you might get away with SR lifters on a hydraulic roller camshaft if you tightened the lash to .004" hot.  That may pose a problem with holding a valve open upon start-up with a very cold engine, so that is a possible problem for you.  Again, I would not mix and match camshaft/lifters just to save a few dollars.  Do it right the first time, and then you don't have to do it a second time.  Joe-JDC

[Barry_R]

You can do it.  I have done it a few times. 
Some of the milder Comp lobes were designed to go both ways - cannot remember yours specifically. 
Run the cold lash down as far as you can - we were at .002 or .003 at room temperature.
The ones I did made a small amount more power, and smoothed the curve beyond the power peak RPM as it fell off.
Probably not worth the effort unless you need to reach an RPM target (I think my experience was with a road race deal that really wanted to be able to carry RPM well beyond power peak)

[hwoods]

Thanks for all the replys.  I was just curious.  445 Stroker motor going in 1964 Fairlane and there is a local Nostalgia Racing Assn in the area, so I think we will make a few passes down the 1/8 and 1/4 mile tracks with them just for fun.  Need Nickens Bros in Conroe TX to finish up my shortblock with all the pieces I got from Barry.  They have quite a few Mopar cars and some Chevy's but want more Fords in the mix.

[andyf]

I had an engine once where hyd roller lifters would not fit due to the construction of the block so we had to use solid rollers. That was a Comp hyd roller cam and they said to tighten up the lash. We had to run zero lash at room temp to get 0.004 when the engine was hot. It seemed to work just fine and I think the engine is still running after 10 years or so.

So not exactly the recommended way to do things but if you get backed into a corner for some reason you can make it work.