Well again boyz and girlz, been STREET DRIVING a .680-.660 276-281 @ .050 for 8+ years w/out ANY ISSUES what so ever kinda like my 8" vert and spool...........REAL WORLD not "I HEARD" BS...........

Cons of a solid roller cam:
High cost of camshaft, lifters, and springs.
Cost and labor to remove lifters to send in to be rebuilt every other season.
Cost and labor to replace springs every season, if they make it a whole season. I put 400/500 passes a year on my junk.

Where is the proof that a roller cam will make your car faster?
Two occasions I removed a comp cams custom roller cams and installed a Racer Brown STX-22, [.590" lift and 276* at .050"], one stroker sm block 408 c.i. and one stroker 400/512 big block. Both cars were faster with the solid flat tappet. One has since switched back to a roller and runs about the same as always or a tick slower. Friends cars, both members here.

I have the same Racer Brown cam in both of my track only cars and the Demon with stroker 360 has been 9.68 at 136mph with production cyl heads and weighing over 3050 lbs. The first cam did break, in front of the last lobe on the cam at 400 passes. I ordered an identical replacement and engine is now fast approaching 1700 passes on the second cam. 2100 passes total and on the 3rd set of comp cam springs, $150 a set. Just won footbrake at I-57 dragstrip two weekends ago and Super Pro at Gateway this past weekend. Have won over $50000 with that engine, $12K at wheelie contests, with a cost per pass for that engine at under $3.00 and dropping.

The Lebaron has a 512 RB with Indy SR heads and the same grind cam and lifters and has aprox. 1250 passes. Engine is on second set of Comp Cams springs, also right at $150. Car weighs 2580 lbs. and has been 5.44 at 127mph, 1/8th mile, and 8.58 at 157 mph, 1/4 mile. That engine was double the cost of the sm block in the Demon, mostly due to aftermarket block and heads, but still going strong, with a cost per pass of right at $10 at this time. I hope to go another 1000 passes with that engine, but will be looking at the bearings with engine in car later this week to make sure it still good to keep going.

If you have deep pockets and a lot of ambition, put a roller cam in your engine. If your a working man on a budget with barely enough money and time to race, put a flat tappet cam in and go play.

I am using a SFT in my personal DD because I used Pcar heads and didn't want to deal with installed height/geometry issues.

That said, there is no way I would ever do a SFT on what you are doing. Never. Ever. The only reason to not do a roller is cost, or if you are trying to use stock heads and the installed height is so damn short. With your heads you should NET at the minimum .700 lift. Thumper is running a bit less than that but I would shoot for more lift.

Roller hands down. Unless you are a cheep screw. Or, you are using production heads.

Install a hyd roller and never look back. It's well worth the extra bucks. Nothing is worse that that dreaded tap tap tap tap! Especially when you have done everything right. Been there once, never going back....

I went with Trend edm tool steel SFT for my street car, for the cost I could have gone CHEAP roller but I was concerned about failure of the rollers.

Wow. Alot of different opions here from people that build and race engines. I dont think a sft is the end of the world but money is going to determine what i do. Quite a schooling here. Thanks guys

Dave ,
big con on roller is cost and maintenance .
Potential is there for more power .
Will there be issues with city stop/start driving - lifter oiling ?
SFT as long as it runs in ok you should be good to go . No issues with low rpm/idle in city traffic . Easier on valve train components .
I guess each owner will decide .
I have fellow bracket racers who are reluctant to run their solid roller motors on the street in any regular time frame .
for me , like Ron , I will go SFT for my 505 just like my 440 .
good luck

Tex

comp makes some pretty fast rate solid lifter lobes for the .904 tappet, look in the master cam catalog, MM solids i think they are.

if it's gonna see alot of street miles i'd lean that way...but probably give dwayne a call and see what he says.

If you are really worried about durability, use a hydraulic roller grind with solid roller lifters. Lash it cold .002 if you have an iron block and aluminum heads, maybe .001 if you are careful. It will out power the SFT and HRT and will be stone reliable. Been doing it for years, even though most say don't do it.

I don't remember but aren't you using aftermarket heads? If so there is no way I would screw around with a SFT.

Don't step over donuts to pick up dog turds.

#Winning

Look at it this way. You probably aren't going to go fast enough to need anything more then a flat tappet cam. Plenty of 8 and 9 second cars running flat tappets. I like the rollers as well, but look at the cost difference. Unless you're trying to run way in the 8s, or just anal about having a roller those would be the only reasons I could see why to have one... I really wanted to run a roller in my motor, but at least for now due to cost I am going flat tappet.

As far as the hydro roller, i think those lifters are very heavy and require stiff springs to keep things in control. i'v had many solid flat tappet cams in my small blocks and never had an issue with any of them. as far as the solid roller, i remember installing my first one in my 408 years ago after pulling the SFT cam. I was disapointed at first. not much seat of the pants difference that i noticed between the two. at the track i think there was a 10th if i remember right. alot to think about here, but it will come down to available cash when i get to it. Cab thinks the 276 solid roller is too large for what i'm doing. Does everyone else feel the same? Would like to dial in a size here if i should go roller. Thanks

guess that's why every car manufacturer today runs hydraulic flat tappet cams.Cause they ain't running 8's.

The big con with a flat tappet cam is, if your break-in procedure wasn't done perfectly, and/or you are not using the correct oil (which is getting harder to find locally anymore), you run the risk of some lobes going round, and really messing up your crank, bearings and piston skirts. It happened to me, and many, many others. I switched to a solid roller, and never had an issue.
To the people that want proof that a roller cam makes more power than a flat tappet cam, give me a break. It's been proven so many times, its not worthy of a response.

I broke in the solid flat tappet in my car now with the inner springs out and that was in 2011 as its still going strong. In fact I have never wiped a cam lobe on any flat tappet cam. Dwayne Porter told me the biggest enemy to rollers is valve float as you dont want the roller lifters slapping the cam in valve float which can damage a roller so you want to run enough spring pressure so that if you race your car you wont go into valve float which can damage a roller needle bearing. Ron

Thumper have you pulled your lifters and had them rebuilt any time ? Or are you saying you have run 8 years on the same roller lifters ? Course I dont know how much you drive on the street but I know you do drive it on the street. Ron

You can buy bushed roller lifters now (Lunati).

What about the new bushed rollers seems like the best of both worlds. The only problem is they are even more expensive.

Ron makes a good point. Solid rollers in a street engine that sees lots of low rpm can be a worry. I read lots of stories of lifter failure/engine damage. So I talked with Richard Isky and installed the bushed lifters with EDM oil holes. No more worries, but they were expensive.

Im glad to see a few flat tappet users out there having good results. I'm really not too worried about the amount of power loss with a flat tappet at this point as this will be 90% street driven. Just a pain to break in.
The roller worries would be with the valve spring and lift rebuilds. I used to have mine rebuilt every 3yrs which was about 2000miles and maybe 50 passes.