solid cam question?

[ntastng]

How often do you need to adjust your valves, and just do general maintaince caused from the cam?

Thanks!
Ben

[dave bandt]

Once you get the hang of setting the lifters they aren't nearly as bad as a lot of people think/claim. I check mine every time i race, but rarely do i ever have to reset them. It's just a good way of making sure that nothing is going away.....i.e. a lifter or a cam lobe. With a mild cam and spring pressure it's not uncommon to not have to touch them for the better part of a season. A girdle does nothing for valve lash. It just keeps the studs from deflecting when you start running big cams that require a lot of spring pressure....which increases valve lift and gives more stable valve timing.

[ntastng]

Thanks Dave!

[upngo50]

Joe has solids in his Camaro. He only adjusts them once a season and they aren't usually that far off if at all.

[drag79stang]

I check mine every other race. Since I"ve installed the AFR heads, (like 3 years ago), with the same cam, I haven't had anything 'change' yet. Go thru the hassle of warming engine up, getting fuel lines and everything out of the way, pulling the plugs, pulling the valve covers, and then checking them all. Nothing ever changes...........Kinda boring actually.
Before I had the AFR heads (without a girdle), I'd check them almost every race, and usually one or more would be loose/tight.
Just my .002

[4 nomor]

Solids don't cause nearly the headaches that most will tell you.

On a side note, if Ben's gears are turning this can only mean that large amounts of cash will be spent soon....

[ntastng]

your right eric I think the capri is gonna have an oh so good christmas. of course this means roll cage.

[onewickedstang]

i just posted a thread on mustang central that gives a diagram and explanation for easy valve adjustments. 3 steps and you can do all the valves. by far much quicker than following the timing order. it's under the windsor tech forum. :thumbs_up

[MAT88GT]

Most people seem to agree that solid is not the way to go, not because of the valve adjustment, but because of the abuse the valvetrain takes with solid setups.

sure if you're launching the lifter off the lobe ;)

a mild (comp xe street roller eg xr286r) will live quite a long time with matching valvetrain...its pretty easy on the springs.

[dave bandt]

Yeah, i agree Mat. It's when people try to run a monster with 280 degrees @ 0.050 on the street that bad things happen.

[trink408]

What about busting rocker arms running solid rollers on the street? Every engine builder I talked to warned me of running a solid roller on the street because I would break a rocker arm eventually. Something to do with poor oiling on the top of the motor, especially when idling around town.

You guys ever heard of something like that?

[QTRMILE]

you're talking to the wrong engine builders, lol.

[dave bandt]

If the engine builder pays attention to the oiling system it won't be a problem. The big spring pressures needed with big cams is what kills lifters, rockers and springs.

[1slo5.0]

What about busting rocker arms running solid rollers on the street? Every engine builder I talked to warned me of running a solid roller on the street because I would break a rocker arm eventually. Something to do with poor oiling on the top of the motor, especially when idling around town.

You guys ever heard of something like that?



I ran a .700+ lift solid roller on the street and whaled the tar out of it...never had any rocker arm issues. Spend the money once and buy good parts and have a good engine builder do the work. If there is one thing that I learned over the last 11 years, its spend the money once on good parts and machine work instead of buying cheap parts and spending triple what the good parts would have cost because you keep breaking parts.

[1slo5.0]

Whats considered "big"?


5 foot 2, 320lbs

[dave bandt]

This kinda goes back to what I was saying with beating the valvetrain. Whats considered "big"?


The lobe ramp rates dictate your spring pressure, not lift and duration....so that's a tough question to give a general answer to. I would say any cam that requires spring pressures of much more than 250 lbs on the seat and much over 700 lbs "over the nose" is one that has potential to give you valve train reliability issues if it sees much street time.

[flyin '85]

I have had a solid cam in my car for 4 summers now. I check them once in the spring before I start to drive the car. I can honestly say after intial break-in I don't think that the lash has changed .002 on any of the valves.