In an all out stock appearing build what would be the power difference between a solid flat tappet cam and a roller. 499/400 iron intake and exhaust manifolds.

You need more than that to get any decent response

is it for the car in your signature?

Can't really say specically, but since a solid roller can have faster ramps with more area under the curve with less advertised duration the improvement could be substantial. This all depends on air flow of the heads, intake and exhaust though. Along with other factors. If I were you and looking for all you can get out of the combo I would talk to several different cam grinders and get their suggestions before making a decision.

Nice running car you have already, hope you can find what you're looking for. Pics would be nice!!!

As with most things related to this type of discussion........ “it depends”........ on a number of things.

That particular combo the OP is running really suffers from the stock iron intake manifold.

I’ve never done the SFT vs roller cam swap in one of those builds, but once you’ve got one running pretty strong....... finding extra power in that type of build usually doesn’t come too easily.

I know you can’t run one, but as an example....... my suspicion is that a pretty good SFT cam with something like an RPM or 6bbl intake would be noticeably better than the same motor with a killer roller cam and a modified iron manifold.
Just speculation on my part.

Yes. New engine build.

FB_IMG_1574727577096 by cudadude2, on Flickr

Untitled by cudadude2, on Flickr

Sweet!

I can't answer your question but, I've read all your posts on here and FBBO because your car is exactly what I've been moving toward with mine; well, except that I have one year newer technology (69 Road Runner)

Did you get the 11.90 with the 451 or have you already switch to the 499?

What are the specs on your current solid if you don't mind sharing?

Love the car!

Awesome car!

451 with factory 440 rotating assembly. .6ish solid flat tappet cam. 10:1 compression. Ported intake and heads lots of practice.

If it helps, here are the number 1 & 2 times for our combination:

11.52 120.28

11.58 117.98

Both were 511ci. I know for sure the second had a solid roller; pretty sure the first did also but, can't confirm.

So, with your plan to go to 499ci and a solid roller, I'd say you can potentially pick up around .3 once everything is sorted out and you've practiced, tested and practiced some more.

Comp cams probably offers 30 SFT lobes and probably a 100 solid roller designs. Maybe share what you have now? Maybe ask opinions on a certain SFT lobe verses a certain solid roller lobe. The head flow info through 0.700" might be helpful too.


If you're using MM lobes with a 1.7 rocker ratio and comparing it to a High Energy roller w/ 1.5s with similar seat timing, probably no gain, maybe a loss. If you are comparing an High Energy SFT on a 1.5 verses a TK lobe with a 1.7 probably 70 hp.

That sweet Runner already runs good !! Ron

Untitled by cudadude2, on Flickr

Here’s the questions to ask yourself......

How much of a gain in power would you have to see out of the SFT to roller swap to justify the cost.......and does that seem realistic?



The #1 motor made way more power than the #2 motor(it was also a much more expensive and sophisticated build).
It just shows how important the overall set up is, as motors with very similar power to that one have gone well into 10’s in heavier cars.
There was def a fair amount of ET left in that car.

Assuming the same weight, the speed difference shows there to about a 30hp spread between those two motors.
The actual difference on the dyno was more than that.

The #1 car could, and would break the tires loose pretty far down track.

The #2 car was much more predictable and easy to drive.........Once you were out past the 60’ clocks, you were golden.

That’s kind of what I’m trying to determine. I’d prefer to stay solid flat tappet, but if there’s more than a tenth in going roller I’d likely take that step. I expect to get everything out of either package when it’s done just would not want to do it twice.

B

Going strictly by the numbers...... in that 118-120mph area, at around 3500lbs...... if you don’t waste any of it....... a tenth is a little over 1mph...... which is worth about 15hp.

So, that seems like a reasonable expectation to me.

Interestingly....... the motor your cam came out of was swapped to a roller.
That was a 6bbl though, and the heads got updated a little at the same time.
I think the gain was over 3 tenths(or more) with that combo.

Man I hate to see you spend all that money switching over to a roller cam in quest as you say you would be happy with a .10 of a second. I have seen so many people unhappy with this upgrade. You could very well see nothing with a stock cast iron intake and factory exhaust manifolds. There are way easier upgrades that are cheaper too.

roadrunner2, thanks for posting the cam card; I find it interesting, not what I would have thought.

Dwayne, as always, I appreciate your insights too!

Dwayne, I'm not asking you to give away any secrets or go into too much depth, I just know that there is more than 1 way to skin a cat and would like to know, if you were to spec a SFT for roadrunner2's 451, would it look anything similar to the cam card?