ImBatman

Good Morning and I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Here is my question. Should I consider a roller for my BB? I was planning on going with a solid cam and am definately more attracted to the price of the valve train. What are some arguments if any for me to go with a roller vise a solid drive train. Also I have asked this question before but can't find the old post. What are some recommended solid grinds? Compression will be around 9.5:1 with aluminum GMPP 110 or 119cc heads. I want something fairly lumpy with a good power band under 6500rpm as I am running a cast SCAT crank,3/8 rods and 2 bolt block. Thanks for any input. And have a great holiday! :cheers:

James

Wade I think the one key factor here is money. If you can afford the extra cash a roller will run you I think by far they are worth it. I could not believe the all around better performance I got in my 68 Rally Sport when I switched from a regular hydraulic cam to a Hydaulic Roller. I ended up getting more valve lift with less duration which made the car more streetable. I'm running a custom ground Crane solid roller in the 509 that I have installed in my 69 vette and have been real happy with it so far even though I have barely driven it. Again if it can be afforded you can't go wrong with a roller!!

MotorHead

I am in the same situation, from what I can understand a roller cam ( I would only consider a solid roller here ) will give you more lift at the same duration as a flat tappet cam.
For me and a small block, that means I can get a much higher lift with the roller and still have vaccum whereas the lift I want, if I was to use a flat tappet, would affect the vacuum to the extent where brakes, headlights ect. would not work.

The roller would also give you more low end power compared to a flat tappet cam with the same lift.

I could be a little off here but that is the way I see it, some others might be able to add some to that.

The only downside is that they are freakin' expensive :D

Flareside

It depends on your usage and budget. A roller cam setup will cost you at least $1k. Many people spend all that cash on a roller, when they could have spent it on better heads that would have given a bigger boost. IMO, heads first, roller second.

I have a solid roller in my 406, and it runs great. The roller allows you to make tremendous top end power, while still retaining a decent idle. A flat tappet cam that would produce the same top end power would be much rougher at low rpms. With the roller, I fully expect to have to remove the intake and inspect/replace/rebuild the rollers every winter. Solid rollers are high maintenance items, but for a weekend toy this isn't usually a big deal. When you install a solid roller, you usually also install a full roller valvetrain and stud girdles. Some guys even go for $1000 shaft rocker assemblies.

Hydraulic rollers are low maintenance (no maintenance!), but they don't produce the smooth low end response that a solid roller does. Their performance is closer to that of a solid flat tappet cam, but the benefit is that they don't require periodic valve lashing.



[Modified by Flareside, 9:15 AM 12/20/2002]

Fevre

I switched alot of stuff when I went roller but did not noticed a big diff in idle characteritics from my old small valve iron head small hyd cam set up. I did drop from 18 to 14 on the ole vac gauge. I did noticed a BIG diff when I punched it at 2000 rpm's, it pulls strong to 6000+ but I have not tried to go over 6000 munch since it has an all cast lower end. I only paid about $500 for my set up but I am not sure I would drop $1,000 on a big block set. For under 6500 a hyd roller would do fine IMHO. you might check e-bay for someone selling a set of bb roller lifters.


[Modified by Fevre, 9:27 AM 12/20/2002]

ImBatman

Thanks for the replies guys. I think that I wasn't totally clear on my comparison. When I said solid I meant just going with a solid flat tappet cam vise a roller of any kind. But still comparing the price $109 for a solid lifter cam sounds better for me and my budget. I am not going to race this thing but I do want a good solid performer with a a noticeable rumpy idle. Any suggestions on a solid flat tappet grind with a power band under 6k? :cheers:

gkull

to choose a cam you need all the engine particulars. The biggest thing is ci, exhaust type, and head type.

Your compression ratio needs are determined by what cam timing you end up with