hosrom_951

Rob: Price is silly but as Duke said: Droooool!!!

fast951

People tend to use (mostly on race cars) solid lifters to overcome some shortcomings with the stock hydraulic lifters. Stock hydraulic lifters are not able to handle RPM higher than 6800-7000, also with stock lifters you are limited to cam profiles.. Solid lifters solve both problems, but they introduce the need for manual adjustment. Of course, to get the true benefits of solid lifters, you have to look at the complete valve train and modify to meet your goals.

Having solid lifters may allow you to run higher RPMs, but the stock bottom end (wet sump) might be another problem that must be addressed, so a conversion to a dry sump might be required as well...

For a street car, solid lifters make no sense (to me). First your RPM will be limited by the bottom end. Then some cams may not be practical for the street.

special tool

RolexNJ

Fast951:

Thank you for that info. Much appreciated.

hosrom_951

Did anyone see the quality/durability of the stock OEM (and aftermarket) hydraulic lifters produced today?

Crap...........

fast951

Lutjen, don't even get the idea that you can convince me to go solid lifters on your big valve cyl. head...

RolexNJ, you are welcome..

Chris White

Fast951 covered it pretty well. Done right it is a very expensive proposition and not for (almost all) street cars. The picture of the ‘solid lifter’ race car posted previously has a rumored cost of $250,000….

NZ951

I see no point in running more than 7K rpm! I have my shift point at 6.4K and will never run more. High rpm's kill engines quicker, much quicker. I can do without the extra 500-1,000 rpm. Engines just cost too muh to rebuild.

fast951

Very true. I like to stick to 6400rpm (exceed it occasionally). I would rather have power sooner (lower lag) , if needed you can always play with gearing.

It's interesting how many people think that the more complex the solution the better it is. I recently received a call on behalf of a racer, he was using some Stage x turbo, and never made more than 340s HP.. They were looking for a head modification or 16v head. I was able to convince him to try a Stage 3 turbo (2.5l engine). He picked up 60+/rwhp/tq at the same boost level, the power came early in the RPM. Well he shaved 6 seconds a lap at Sebring (I believe he added a rear wing as well, but lost the short R&P of the 944S2). Now he can overtace the 996 cup cars.. So instead of looking for exotic & expensive solutions (16v etc), he solved the power issue by using a well designed product. There are many simple things that can be done to gain HP without going to extreme measures...

RolexNJ

Chirs & Fast951:

Thanks guys for your insight and explaning this to me. It's much appreciated too

Just as I suspected, solid lifters are "mostly" used for higher the RMPs, such as race applications. And yes, just as you said Fast951, a dry sump will be needed too. And yes, the maintenance is much moreso than stock lifters. I figured this much, even before posting this thread.

Questions:

1.) How often do solid lifters need to be adjusted? There must be some guidline or average, no?

2.) How time consuming is this job given with the stock cam housing too?

3.) Chris, you got to be kidding me, that car you posted is around $250K? Jesus.

Chris White

typically only after the cam box has been taken off and / or work done to the head.

It s impossible with the stock cam box. You need ot get a feeler gauge between the cam the the lifter after the cam box has been installed. That’s why there are inspection ports installed in the side of that nice Miledge motor.

Yep, I have heard that story from several folks. It does set fastest time of day at almost every PCA race it goes to. I forget the exact claimed HP, a little over 600 at the crank.

The only purpose to a solid lifter set up is to rev the engine higher and utilize a more aggressive cam. To do that you will have to do a lot of other mods to support the changes.

Chris White

RolexNJ

Chris:

If I understand you correctly, it doesn't sound like it needs to be adjusted that often? Am I reading this wrong? I mean if that's the case, that isn't going to be to often. So only when headwork is done, right?

Also, are you running stock lifters in your track and soon to be street car? You're not going to look into a solid lift set-up for your 3.1L?

Tomas L

Can the 16 v lifters handle more rpm?

special tool

Thomas - they are very small and very light. Nothing liike the 8 valve parts.

Chris White

Nope, no solid lifters for me, its not an impossible project but you have to change a lto of other things to tune the motor to get performance in the 6k to 8k range. Keep in mind that optimizing the engine to perform at high RPM means that the low and mid rpm performance will be reduced (that’s the ‘you can’t have everything’ rule).

The 16v valve train parts are half the weight of the 8v stuff. Solid lifters would be a lot easier to do on the 16v due to access to the cams but I don’t think it is worth the effort. 7k rpm is fine with stock 16v components.

The 3.1 motor is going to be about torque – lots of it and a big fat curve. If the peak HP numbers are big that will be nice but that it not the target.

Chris White