Ok, so I have been looking around and building another motor for the Rebel Reaper. I have a roller cam in the motor in the car now, just put it in last year. I really didn't see a performance gain (probably the cam choice) but I did get to use regular oil. That being said, should I run a roller in this motor also? Is it worth my investment. Or should I just run a solid lifter cam and buy better oil? How long typically should I expect roller lifters to live. I have found some stuff on the net that says they only last about 2,000 street miles? I think that is crazy cause there are so many manufactures now that run roller motors. I know my car is drag specific, but I am not about going real fast and squeezing every inch of hp out of the motor. I just like to go out and have a good time. So my initial reason for going roller was ease of maint. but if I have to change them every season or two??? So engine builders, what do you think?
Roller lifter life depends on cam lift and spring pressure. if you are running a monster that has outragious spring pressures it is going to be harder on lifters than running a stock late model cam. For example I put a lot of miles on a very old harley with roller lifters, they had roller lifters clear back in the 30s that I know of. I freeshened the lifters once right after I put it on the road. But my cam although pretty hot didn't need mega spring pressures to keep the lifter on the cam lobe. Does that make any sense? You read a lot of things on the internet, there is no one fact checking and no rules. Anyone can put up a site and pretty much say whatever they want.
I don't think there are many new production engines in modern cars that don't have roller lifters.They don't have any issue with premature wear. The whole idea of a roller cam is to reduce friction and thus wear.
a lot of what you read on the net about the roller lifter problem in street applications is about solid rollers, there was and may still be a problem with them oiling properly in situations where they idle a lot , stop lights and cruise nights etc. i have never seen a problem with a hydraulic roller and try to run them when I can. I know ther have been changes made by most cam manufactures on locations of oiling holes in their lifter bodies. but for the street I would run a hydraulic roller.if your drag specific I would run a solid roller
The roller lifter engines are built on two different platforms?? First is the hydraulic-roller platform, which consists of all the newer pieces from the manufactuers' today using (hydraulic) "roller-lifters". These are "maintenance-free" for the most part and don't reqiure as much spring as the solid setup! There is no "adjusting valves" (lash) with this platform, basically they are adjusted as a standard hydraulic setup, 1/2 turn down (nom)! Second is the mechanical roller lifters, these require heavier spring rates and need to be adjusted much like the solid-lifter platform. They have valve lash to contend with AND are pretty much considered a "maintenance" item with somewhat limited life expectancy! We use Comp Cam's solid-rollers with direct oiling to the wheels! This does extend life some but still needs watching! (Add) For any engine not originally equipped with a hydraulic roller setup you must use a "retro" hydraulic-roller setup. This keeps the lifters in the correct position with respect to the cam lobes. EOM hydraulic-rollers have their own system incorporated into the later blocks!! Thanks, Gary in N.Y. P.S. I know they still have the solid-roller's available for the AMC line, not sure about the "retro-hydraulic" series being available at all though!
Here is a good article that talks about the evolution and use of solid roller lifters and what you can expect as far as maintenance and wear when used on the street. http://www.superchevy.com/technical/engines_drivetrain/cams_heads_valvetrain/0511sc_cams/index.html
X2..Hydraulic roller lifters are just fine on the street. Cam lift and profile pose no problem to the life of them. You are RPM limited but that won't affect much on a street motor. You'll be just fine...!
One thing to watch for is distributor gear wear. MSD sells special gears just for roller cam engines, and they are wear items that need address every now and agian. Joe
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