More on Solid Rollers

Just broke a comp cams extreme solid roller lifter and would like to know about the expected life of a lifter in a drag car. The cam lift is .726/.726 Comp cams roller in a 10.90 heavy car. Whats the cure?

There are many reasons why solid roller lifters fail.
Unhappy valvetrain - spring pressures, spring surge, push rod flex, camshaft lobe design etc..

Tell more about your combination, what cam, springs (spring and installed height), pushrods, rocker ratio etc..
More details will give others a good idea what is going on, and what typical lifter lifetime one could expect.

Cheers

To add to the above statement, improper lash adjustment, valve float, improper maintaince or lack of such, wore out or improperly aligned lifter Bores....... And the list goes on.

I didn't build this motor and as I tare it down I will get the numbers,

The Rockers are Crower SS 17-7ph ratio 1.73

push rods Comp cams CM 8.680

Dual springs that I need to measure ( no signs of miss alignment)

Comp cams solid roller .726/.726 @ 296/204 AD

Valve adjustment .028 / .030  (I stay on top of this.)

jomar stud girdle

Old Blue Thunder heads

Comp cams push rod guides and arp studs

The installed spring height is 2.100 ( not including the retainer )

I puller the motor and opened the bottom end ( Now over time I have found the builder did some sloppy things ) as I'm inspecting and cleaning it up I will tell you that my lifter breakage would be considered minor there is alot of metal chips / needle bearings / small lifter chunk and retainer clip, so it needed to be done.

Well with all that being said as I'm cleaning the oil pan I find a Broken ring! I really dont want to even go there!

Having said the builder ( Now out of business , It was Speed-O-Motive ) I saved the old football head rods that still had the pistons hanging and the first one I pulled out of the box had a broken rind.

PERFECT FIT!!!!!!! I could see if you have kids working for you and the side sump pan with trap doors and a windage tray you could  and did miss it.

I just bracket race this Ranchero at local event and was thinking to put a smaller lift ( .667/667 or 692/692 ) with the same duration. I'm running pump gas sweetin with Torco Accelerator C/r is 11.2 according to the paperwork, but ten again they say the heads cc at 71cc and the are 80cc heads. Opinion Gentalmen and yes I have thick skin

That smallish cam is not your problem. Check the spring psi on the heads first. Most lifter problems are results of other issues already mentioned.

Karmas a bitch huh?

Ya, the internet KILLED him with a few bad reviews. Poor business when you dont take care of your customer.

I think the Best thing to do if you insist on going a Roller cam is to use bearingless roller lifters, or you could have a nice Solid lifter cam ground I know it is a littleless HP but it won't crash a set of lifters either...Do like I do and search you can find all kinds of deals on the web....you just have to hunt for them...

I'm thinking the culprit here is a combination of to high installed height (2.100 is getting in the high .800 lifts) this tends to cause oscillation. And excessive lash, I'd tighten up to .018 if you want things to last.

dfree383 wrote:I'm thinking the culprit here is a combination of to high installed height (2.100 is getting in the high .800 lifts) this tends to cause oscillation. And excessive lash, I'd tighten up to .018 if you want things to last.

I think your right as I look at other cam specs, they are much tighter than Comp cams.

Also look for some springs that install at a
Lower height, something in the 1.950-2.000 range.

Two springs that set up at ~ 1.950"

221443-16 manley

951-16 comp cams

Depending on how much open pressure you need......the 951 has the most open load of the two.

Lem Evans wrote:Two springs that set up at ~ 1.950"

221443-16 manley

951-16 comp cams

Depending on how much open pressure you need......the 951 has the most open load of the two.

Thanks Lem.

I've been alittle under the weather and have not spent much time in the garage, but as I was cleaning things up I started to see some intresting things....A bent dowel pin on the cam. Guess I will pull the heads now to see what eles I can find.

That crashed lifter can cause a bent pin in the cam.

airford1 wrote:Just broke a comp cams extreme solid roller lifter and would like to know about the expected life of a lifter in a drag car. The cam lift is .726/.726 Comp cams roller in a 10.90 heavy car. Whats the cure?

springs too weak,or installed at wrong height, too lose of lash, or your setting them wrong


9 times out of ten its the lash, just too loose


as far as lasting had 1 set in and out of 4 different engines of mine for 10 years,never had a problem, only took them out just because.

Could be the reason I've never had issues w/Comp lifters,my lash is never larger than .020 on my Roller cams.

.018 hot. Any tighter and the valves dont seat cold.