Who runs solid lifter (non-roller) cams on the street? Is this cam too big?

Anyone running solid lifters on the street? How often do you have to check lash? The wife just told me we are putting the big block in her 57 Fairlane. She doesn't want to play around with a little 302. Go big or go home she says. I'm going to use the old 460 bracket motor. It has a solid lifter Crower cam. .536" Intake 290 duration, .554" exhaust 298 degrees, 247 and 251 degrees at .050". Should I switch to a milder hydraulic flat tappet or try this one first. It has ported Doves, Weiand Stealth, KB flat top pistons, roller rockers. It ran low 11's in my car at 3500 lbs. I will be putting lower compression pistons in it. Thanks, Mike

I ran a solid flat tappet cam from Reed cams for about five years street and strip use.
.587 .610 lift with 261 and 268 on the duration @ .050.
Good oil and oiling sytem with proper valve adjustments and maintence it should be fine.

512Fairlane wrote:Anyone running solid lifters on the street? How often do you have to check lash? The wife just told me we are putting the big block in her 57 Fairlane. She doesn't want to play around with a little 302. Go big or go home she says. I'm going to use the old 460 bracket motor. It has a solid lifter Crower cam. .536" Intake 290 duration, .554" exhaust 298 degrees, 247 and 251 degrees at .050". Should I switch to a milder hydraulic flat tappet or try this one first. It has ported Doves, Weiand Stealth, KB flat top pistons, roller rockers. It ran low 11's in my car at 3500 lbs. I will be putting lower compression pistons in it. Thanks, Mike

A camshaft that size should be pretty good street/strip type cam ... if it has already been run for a while, the lash should hardly change unless something wrong is happening.

Your wife sounds smart!!! Shit that isn't a big cam at all I ran a .650/.670 lift solid flat on the street as a daily driver for years (except in the winter up here that thing hated 20* temps).

It's funny (not poking fun at the OP) but it's not been that many years ago all engines were solid flat tappets.

Years ago rollers were an exotic piece that most people couldn't afford, we ran solid flat tappets for thousands of miles with what was called in the day as normal maintenance, (Lash check every 10-15000 miles) with zero problems.

The deal with zinc being removed from our oils some years ago has put a negative spin on running flat tappet cams.

Flat tappet cam lobes are made from mild to wild, and some thought needs to be added to determine how and where it is to be ran. And also how much money you want to spend.

A good street solid flat tappet can make great power and last 100,000 miles if maintained properly.

512Fairlane wrote:Anyone running solid lifters on the street? How often do you have to check lash? The wife just told me we are putting the big block in her 57 Fairlane. She doesn't want to play around with a little 302. Go big or go home she says. I'm going to use the old 460 bracket motor. It has a solid lifter Crower cam. .536" Intake 290 duration, .554" exhaust 298 degrees, 247 and 251 degrees at .050". Should I switch to a milder hydraulic flat tappet or try this one first. It has ported Doves, Weiand Stealth, KB flat top pistons, roller rockers. It ran low 11's in my car at 3500 lbs. I will be putting lower compression pistons in it. Thanks, Mike

the smallest soild cam we run on or in street cars is a .588 605, these are driven to 75 to 100 miles away car shows etc. .536 is way small

I run a Lunati Bracket Master II cam in my '57 (Chebby 2-door) with BBF. Idles against stock converter fine, with a 3.00 gear. Solid lifters on the cam tames it down some, however. Does makes a great hi-way runner.

im running a street rod with a solid flat with power brakes and have drove lots of miles 258 258 @.050 .615 .615

I ran a 268/279 @.050 with 13:1 compression on a 111 LSA and the cam before that it was 260/268 @ .050 on a 108 LSA, same compression. Both were advanced 4 degrees. It would even sit and idle in rush hour like ever other car. I always ran VR1 20-50w oil and it looked great after almost 2 yrs. No problems at all.

512Fairlane wrote:Anyone running solid lifters on the street? How often do you have to check lash? The wife just told me we are putting the big block in her 57 Fairlane. She doesn't want to play around with a little 302. Go big or go home she says. I'm going to use the old 460 bracket motor. It has a solid lifter Crower cam. .536" Intake 290 duration, .554" exhaust 298 degrees, 247 and 251 degrees at .050". Should I switch to a milder hydraulic flat tappet or try this one first. It has ported Doves, Weiand Stealth, KB flat top pistons, roller rockers. It ran low 11's in my car at 3500 lbs. I will be putting lower compression pistons in it. Thanks, Mike

Being that you have the cam and lifters , in hand and paid for , I'd give them a shot.

Given the context of the cyl. heads and street use I don't see the bang for the buck in buying a new cam/fifter combo to get more lift.

I was hoping I could get away with it. It was fairly mild mannered driving around the pits in the race car but I never took it for spin down the highway or sat in traffic with it.

The life of your "solid lifter camshaft" will mostly rely on the valve spring pressure and idle time. Keep spring pressure moderate (street use) and idle time to a minimum, add some type of zinc additive and IMO, you'll be fine.

As to the camshaft's specs, although you didn't mention (or I overlooked) trans type or converter stall, it's in the ballpark.

Just my B.S.,
Dave.

Does your wife's car have vacuum power brakes? If it does you may need to cam the engine to address that.

Lem we were planning on putting power brakes on it. Is there any chance this cam would make enough vacuum? I might consider a vacuum cannister or even a hydroboost set up off of a later model Mustang.

I'm not an expert on that but, I doubt it.

I ran a hyd flat cam that was about 235 on the intake side, with a 472 and was on the edge for enough vacuum for power brakes.