Roller Lifters in a 69 340 block

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harrisonm

harrisonm

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I really have 2 questions:
1. How difficult is it to put a roller lifter cam in a 340 (69 block); and,
2. Is it worth it?
I have a 69 Barracuda with a warmed over 340 pushing about 375 HP. It has Comp XE268 cam, Eddy Air Gap, Eddy 750 Carb, Headers, 4 speed and 3.55 gears. Although I have been VERY pleased with this combination, I was thinking about more power. Would the change to a roller cam be beneficial, or should I just focus on getting my heads ported and maybe go to the XE 272 cam?
PS I did just read the thread called Roller Lifters, but it did not answer my question.
 
Yes u can use roller lifters mike at mrl performance has made a roller lifter to use in our old blocks that needs no modification to the block many members use them and talk highly of them .
 
You didn't mention what heads you have. A roller cam will be little benefit if it can't breathe. Comp makes a drop in solid roller lifter also, I'm using them in my new build.
 
Get rid of anything with comp on it and call a CUSTOM cam grinder and order a CUSTOM cam. Comp claims they do custom cams for the public but I gave up trying years ago. COMP=JUNK unless you are very well connected or buy tens of thousands of dollars of crap from them a year.


Port your heads, lose the air gap, get 1.75 headers and a Strip Dominator, a good 850 Holley, a CUSTOM cam and get 3.9 gears.


All easily streetable stuff.

For cam grinders I use, in no particular order:

Mike Jones (Jones Cams)
Racer Brown (Jim)
Cam Motion
Bullet

I have used them all, all OUTPERFORMED out of the box, off the shelf cams for HP, TQ and driveability than the cams they replaced.
 
I am in this road right now.

I bought hydraulic roller lifters for my 69 340 from hughes engines. They had the lower oil band for high lift cams. I believe i have a few collapsed lifters since i can push down on a few rockers and the rockers move. So i am a bit frustrated because its a brand new w2 headed 418 stroker motor and upset that i have to remove the intake to dig in deeper. I am putting it off because i am so upset about it.

But this time i already asked mike at mrl about his solid rollers and since i have to tear into the 418 to get to the lifters, change the pushrods and adjust the rockers AGAIN! i think i am just going to solid rollers now and deal with the yearly adjustments.

I have no comments on his solid rollers yet, but i am thinking by next summer i may have an opinion on them. Its the sunken canadian dollar or the over valued american dollar that has stopped me in my tracks for now.


at the moment i have a custom roller lunati cam in the 418
 
dodgedifferent2 said:
I am in this road right now.

I bought hydraulic roller lifters for my 69 340 from hughes engines. They had the lower oil band for high lift cams. I believe i have a few collapsed lifters since i can push down on a few rockers and the rockers move. So i am a bit frustrated because its a brand new w2 headed 418 stroker motor and upset that i have to remove the intake to dig in deeper. I am putting it off because i am so upset about it.

But this time i already asked mike at mrl about his solid rollers and since i have to tear into the 418 to get to the lifters, change the pushrods and adjust the rockers AGAIN! i think i am just going to solid rollers now and deal with the yearly adjustments.

I have no comments on his solid rollers yet, but i am thinking by next summer i may have an opinion on them. Its the sunken canadian dollar or the over valued american dollar that has stopped me in my tracks for now.


at the moment i have a custom roller lunati cam in the 418
Click to expand...

hydraulic lifter bleed down...flat tappet and roller....once the oil bleeds out of them...you can push the rocker down and it will move the plunder down...does not mean the lifter is bad as long as once the engine is started it pumps back up with oil....
 
But, I have to wonder; During the time it takes for the lifters to pump back up, how good is that for the little needle rollers and the cam? I mean, the cam may be smacking the lifter roller around pretty bad. Then multipy that over the hundreds or thousands of dry-starts. Hmmmmm
Naw, Ima thinking MRL.
 
heads dont have to flow any better to use a roller, the fact that the roller can open faster and close faster with the same control is what makes them more efficient. The ramps on a flat tappet can only be so aggressive for street use, the lobes on a roller are much more agressive and can hold the valve open longer generating far more duration with the lift being insane. Think of a flat tapped lobe like an egg, a roller like a circle track shape, the duration at .050 on the same lift roller to flat tappet can be much longer.
 
edit: The duration can be longer without the lift being any larger so you can still have the needed velocity over a longer time. How do you edit your own post?
 
I should add .. it's a tick coming from valvetrain that I am chasing and I have set the lash numerous times only for it to keep ticking after. They will not stay pumped up at any time
 
got mrl solid roller lifters and a voodoo cam i got from him works awesome, with factory block, mike kmows hp
 
Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll call Mike at MRL.
Btw, I have stock 69 340 heads.
Also, as I said, I have been VERY pleased with my current package, and I can't agree that Comp = Junk.
 
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