Solid Roller lifters

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frosty_the_punk

frosty_the_punk

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Hey guys, What's the deal with converting to a solid roller?

I've heard that bushing the lifter bores is necessary, I've also heard it's optional.

What brand of lifter do you consider to be the best/worst/middle of the range?

Does anyone have real world experience to share regarding swapping to a solid roller with the intention of getting a cam that has more idle vacuum etc while also increasing power output?
 
Back in the day you had to bush or tube the lifter bores to prevent oil escaping and dropping your oil pressure. And you hear stories of solid rollers not surviving on the street. Well if you dont oil the rollers and block off any oil to the lifter all together, how is it going to survive? Race engines are totally different than street engines. Race engines are at high rpm all the time, oil is flying all over the place. Street engines spend 95% of the time at 3000rpm or less and oil is not flying around to lube things like lifters with all oil blocked from getting to them. Bushing can help sure up and geometry misalignment, but its not 100% necessary in most cases.

We at MRL Performance make our own lifters. They are made from High quality materials, spot on CNC machining and are made to drop right in and last for a very long time.

The right solid roller will get you a better idle sound, more vacuum, more low end, more mid range and more top end power. The best of all worlds. There is always going to be a compromise with cams that dont have any type of variable timing, but its a lot less of a compromise with a solid roller.

See our web site for more info on our solid rollers
www.MRLPERFORMANCE.com
 
Frosty I hope you don't mind me interjecting a question for Mike as it'll be beneficial for both of us as I'm considering a swap to a solid roller also.

Mike, as you know most solid rollers are billet and require a brass oil pump/dist. driveshaft. Can a cast gear be installed on the billet cam so the brass driveshaft isn't needed? Or is there another way around it? I've always heard the brass drive gear wears down pretty quick leaving brass shavings in your engine so it's not good to run on the street.
 
That brass gear is a big part of why I didn't go solid roller
 
Fishy 68 ,Ordered a Howard's"retro fit" hydro roller ,for the Magnum. Intended for installation, in LA mills. Was ground on a full billet .Had a cast distributor gear on it. Called Howard's, the confirmed yes,it will work with the standard cast LA intermediate shaft.
 
Abodybomber said:
Fishy 68 ,Ordered a Howard's"retro fit" hydro roller ,for the Magnum. Intended for installation, in LA mills. Was ground on a full billet .Had a cast distributor gear on it. Called Howard's, the confirmed yes,it will work with the standard cast LA intermediate shaft.
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Tnx Bomber. I thought I had read that somewhere in the past but wasn't positive. Did they charge much extra for it?
 
330,and change to the door. All the "retro fit" grinds come with cast gear. Remember,rated on the LA 1.5 rocker ratio.Summit,Jeg's . Competition Products.
 
I will throw you a tip ,Frosty. Request Mopar part number P3690715 . Hardened intermediate shaft,never run a hot small block without one. Lost a 408,without it.
 
Hey bomber I guess my question is kinda the same. I have an 89 La hydraulic roller and I got a new billet roller cam and I was looking at that brass bushing today wondering if the stock pump drive shaft is sufficient? I've got a few bucks in this and don't want to loose it. The pump shaft looks like its a good one but looks don't mean chit. Thanks for the info and I'm sorry if its redundant.
 
What can grind,and cam supplier, GTM? Went though a bazillion hours research here. Never a redundant question, to longevity.
 
the hughes coated gear looks nice....but not being able to use a high volume oil pump with it makes me wary.
 
I bought it from whitepunk. It was a MP hydraulic roller but I sent it off and had it reground. The cam guy said it was a real nice billet piece. Do the other intermediate shafts do away with the brass bushing?
 
If you look it looks like one of the shafts was heat treated. This is a hydraulic roller. I just really noticed that this cam has a short snout so looks like im converting to electric fuel pump. Oh well. Let me know what you think.
 

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You sure it's not for a magnum? Either way Hughes sells and extension so you can run a mech fuel pump.
 
The motor is an 89-91 La roller. I thought hughes made something like that but I think I may go electric anyways.
 
gtmopar said:
The motor is an 89-91 La roller. I thought hughes made something like that but I think I may go electric anyways.
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Don't blame you one bit. I'm going electric as well. I'm really looking hard a the product called vaporworx
 
Looks like a cast gear,to me. Not positively sure.Can you email/call the cam grinder about that gear? Make sure.If possible ,upgrade the intermediate shaft to the better one.
 
Looks like a Crane cam core,can you post a pic of the rear end of the cam?
shouldn't need anything but a stock oil pump gear with that cam.
 
I was told it was a mopar performance cam. I got it from whitepunknitro and sent it off and had it reground to a .519 .531 I believe. If I need to upgrade the pump shaft I will. No sense in taking a chance. So the brass bushing comes out huh? How the hell do you get it out without dropping the pan again and flipping it over and punching it out? Ill do what I gotta do to preserve the build.
 
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