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I think I want to use a roller cam in a 454. It's got original ls6 pistons(GM#3963550) With open cham square ports(188s). I'm afraid of it eating a cam. Its all standard and I dont want to ruin that.What are the pros&cons of using a roller?Some experienced opinions would be GREAT!!
Thank You!
Hydraulic rollers work very, very good on the street and are a lot less maintenance intensive then a mechanical roller... Lots of selection with the hydraulic rollers, should be able to get just the right cam for your application either a stock grind or a custom grind.... Pat McCarthey should be along eventually, he's the BBC guru around here....
Thank You Dave. Other than maintenance,is there anything else about using solids?
If you are changing cams a roller is the way to go without a doubt. No break in time, no worry about wiping off a loab in the first hour of run tiome. A hydraulic roller is best for street use, stick it in set it up and forget about it. The solid roller is more a race cam and they require rechecking clearance fairly often, and they are a little noisier.
After having the roller cam in my 350 Vortec I probably will never run a flat tappet cam again. As was mentioned, no break in time, smooth performance, etc. Lots of new cars are coming off the line with roller cams installed, including the 7.4 you are working on in the later Gen series.
I would stick with hydraulic though, no real need to go mechanical on the street unless you are going to street race it, even then the hydraulic would be fine.
Don
best way to go like said is a roller cam small solid or hyd roller both work very good for street would use the hyd for lower rpm more street engine the lifters are very heavy you have to watch your rpm and you have to use a shorter set of push rod this needs to be check at mid lift for the right length push rods . you will need a cam button to keep the cam from walking as well as i dist gear that works with your roller cam core if your core is a SADI iron core it will used a stock dist gear and pump rod or all steel core use a bronze gear with bronze tip fuel pump rod less two part cam steel with iron gear then iron dist gear will work .i some build bbc i will not run a flat lifter cam in any bbc that i build .just re cam a 402 that wipe a cam and started to work its way thru another cam .i re built it and re cam it with a Erson hyd roller i stop using flat lifter cams for bbc over 20 years ago .i have used many small solid and hyd rollers for street use it is the only way to go and for race engine i only used solid rollers
Thank You Pat!!