[Dragncar]

For me solids or nothing.

[steve25]

One of the key things in terms of cam’s and race motor power is how much duration you have at .200” lift and a SFT cam can have more then a roller at times while getting to that lift point faster .

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Art, yep Paul.......... Art ?

Super Stock

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by besserspat

You guys should be carefull and stop talking about Solid flat tappets and how great they can be...

...Or you will wake up the "Hyd. Roller for everything" police of this forum 🤣🤣...

Peter.

Agree! I think flat tappet cams are great until the lobes or lifters get worn down and ruin the engine. I also think roller cams are great until a lifter fails and and the roller wheel/bearings go through the engine and destroy everything and break out the lifter bore. Just don't think there is an absolutely clear winner here. Some good luck and Karma must be involved. I am currently running a 251-259 Ultradyne SFT grind in my street car. I have 3500 miles on it now and 40+ dyno pulls on it. I have not had a valve cover off since it left the dyno about 3 years ago. Valvetrain sounds quiet, even and smooth. Doesn't mean it won't flatten a lobe the next time I drive it which will be tomorrow. But trending the right direction. Love the way a properly adjusted SFT cam sounds through a full exhaust system.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Agree! I think flat tappet cams are great until the lobes or lifters get worn down and ruin the engine. I also think roller cams are great until a lifter fails and and the roller wheel/bearings go through the engine and destroy everything and break out the lifter bore. Just don't think there is an absolutely clear winner here. Some good luck and Karma must be involved. I am currently running a 251-259 Ultradyne SFT grind in my street car. I have 3500 miles on it now and 40+ dyno pulls on it. I have not had a valve cover off since it left the dyno about 3 years ago. Valvetrain sounds quiet, even and smooth. Doesn't mean it won't flatten a lobe the next time I drive it which will be tomorrow. But trending the right direction. Love the way a properly adjusted SFT cam sounds through a full exhaust system.

Mike did you have the cam Nitrided? .... What lifters are you using?

Same questions for Eric's cam if you don't mind sharing?

[mgarblik]

The cams we are using don't have any special treatment that I know of. Tim Goolsby @ Ultradyne said they verify the hardness depth somehow. Sorry I don't have any other detail. My cam core was new and Eric's was a re-grind because they just didn't have any cores. We are both using Crower cam saver lifters with the little EDM hole in the foot for additional oiling. All 16 lifter holes restricted to .035"-.040" oil holes if I remember correctly. Get lots of oil through those little holes. I use the little distributor oil hole in the rear plug as well.

[Dragncar]

So I have ran 2 sft in Pontiacs and everything went well. Still have a nice Crower .254ish sft on a 108. Lifters in order. But..... since it was the 80s and real Pontiac solid lifters were simply not available they are Chevy lifters. Dan Whitmore sold me the stuff. Said it just takes a longer pushrod, still have those too.
So I know it works. Tool steel lifters are available for Chevies and not too expensive.
Can those tool steel lifters and a nitrided cam help out reliability ?
Even if one had to do the lifter bore trick where you take a small round stone on a die grinder and make a small depression moving the oil hole up or down to better line up with the lifter band on the non Pontiac lifter.
Can it help ?