New roller cam...

If you're "18 and not full of money" then you don't need to be looking a rollers.
id disagree and say if switching to a roller would solve my cam issue it would be a lot cheaper than risking having to rebuild the whole engine again with the flat tappet failing. any tips on keeping the flat tappet alive? yes i did all the break in procedures on comp cams website as they say to do.