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

I'm a big believer in the concept that if something has been proven in millions of applications, it can't be all bad. The hydraulic lifter is one such animal. For Mom's car, they rule the world, unless Mon drives a Slant Six.

About 10 years ago, I assembled an early Hemi with a hydraulic roller. I did that to sidestep any zinc issues, and because I knew the engine would never see over 5000RPM, and I figured the lobe profile might pick up a few HP. Plus, the lack of adjustable rockers sort of went hand in hand with the hyd cam.

But that was not any sort of 'performance' engine....just a 'good' running engine meant to power (get this) a 1958 Chrysler.

The 'unknown mushiness' of a hydraulic lifter freaked me out 40 years ago...it still does today. The miracle is they work at all.....I can hardly expect them to work 'awesome'.

The real deciding factor for me lies in knowing I'm leaving something on the table when I use a hyd lifter....the knowledge that the 'same' cam in a solid will perform better, forever and for free.