Trick Flow 190 Heads, hydraulic roller cam, and pushrod angle Question.

yellow rose said
It’s hard to disagree with you mike because you ain’t wrong.

I get the liability issues. I’ll sound like the prick I am, but there are far too many guys who claim they can do a lot of stuff, then you find out they can’t.

IMO, setting valves is so simple and easy (in most cases...there are those engine compartments that everything is in the way just to get the rocker covers off...when I see that, I know those guys need some kind of hydraulic lifter) that anyone really wanting the best performance should be willing to learn to do it correctly and learn it quickly.

That said, when I can I still try and sway guys to use solid rollers on HR lobes, set the last at .002 cold and send it.

I have guys driving 7500 to 10k miles a year and they just run the valves in the spring and then they drive.

I’ve had so many issues with HR lifters making “noise” and the owner saying it’s not “quiet” that I just got sick of it, and now try and get guys to use solids on their HR lobes.

I hear ya Tim, but the problem is guys are expecting a performance engine to be whisper quiet. They're not, and fwiw, I've never heard a quiet solid tappet lifter. My point is, if guys want a motor that sounds stock, keep it stock. Most of us know that an aggressive lobe will cause more valvetrain noise, hydraulic or not. But, that is the cost of performance many times, and a performance hydraulic roller by nature has a more aggressive lobe profile than a flat tappet, so more valvetrain noise is to be expected. Guys just need to understand that from the beginning.

I built a hydraulic cammed 340 for a customer with a Voodoo flat tappet. He later went to work in the office at a different engine shop. He complained that the valvetrain made a tick sound sporadically. I could never hear it, but he insisted it was there. Guys at the shop he worked at claimed the lifters were junk, so he bought anti pump up lifters. Mind you, I used the same lifters in another engine I built for him with no complaints. The anti pump up lifter wasn't any better, so they talked him into putting solid lifters on the hydraulic cam. As far as I know, they are still in there, and he absolutely hates it. If he wanted quiet, he should have left it stock, or at least near stock. I can't imagine how distressed he would be with a solid and .024"ish lash.

If guys want to run a hydraulic in a performance motor, is should be for ease of maintenance, not for lack of noise. That will get you disappointed pretty easily.