warpedrotor

Hey DUDES I run a solid lifter true 2.5 engine stock bore stock pistons that has no inspection ports to adjust the valve lash YET SOMEHOW my valve lash is spot on.

I can't wait for Chris White to start posting pictures of my engine.

Chris White

Send me some, I'll post them for you!

Perry 951

5 posts since November 2002 and a solid lifter setup... you sure it's your rotors that are warped?

special tool

Warped - how do you know?

BoostGuy951

Is this directed at me?

warpedrotor

Perhaps you could explain to me the correlation between a member’s number of posts and the accuracy of ones statements. If that is not what you are impugning from your post then by all means please clarify your statement.

So here is one for ya, my car has more output per liter then the solid lifter car in Chris Whites picture, now that I have made six post I'm sure that is believable.

BoostGuy951

Lets see some pics then. Got a dyno sheet?

RolexNJ

Chris:

Once again, thank you for your input, along with the others. However, I'm very curious to know, have you in the past ever had solid lifters in any of your cars? I know you're not going to be putting them in your current 3.1L, so that I know.

But with that all said, how is it that you know so much about solid lifter set-up, yet don't have them in any of your cars? I'm just trying to understand your own personal knowledge, because you don't/didn't have them in any of yours car?

sweanders

I have a theory about high power, if you make 500 rwhp and start building boost by ~3500 rpm and have a shift point at ~6800 rpm the power will be hard to dose properly. If you instead have the same max power over a great rev range it should imho be easier to start rolling on the throttle when exciting corners. Having an extra 600 or so rpm can make a big difference since you won't have to start accelerating midcorner in a higher gear. This is with a normal H-pattern gearbox, if using a very fast sequential gearbox it should be possible to shift gear midcorner.

It's just in theory though, but that is the point I see with engines built to rev (if they don't lose all power down low).

Chris White

I have had solid lifter engines before – just not made by Porsche!
Converting to a solid lifter cam will allow you to run significantly higher revs – as long as you also change your valves, valve springs, lifters (of course) retainers and cam profile (figure a couple f thousand bucks give or take). You will also lose low end power because you can only tune for a certain power band – use a cam for high rpm and it will not be optimized for low rpm.

The problem with getting valve trains to run at high rpms is the weight of the moving parts, you need to move some fairly large valves with the 8v head – hence the reason for solid lifters to run very high rpms. The 16v head has much lighter valves and can be run over 7k rpm on the stock hydraulic lifters. For the sake of longevity I don’t plan on running much over that.

Solid lifter cams for the street don’t make any sense (to me) and for a full race engine they start to become a possibility – except for the price part!

And to our new poster – how do you know that you lash is set correctly with out the added ports? Kind of hard to get that feeler gauge in there!

One reasoning behind running higher rpm is that you can take advantage of the torque multiplication of a lower gear for longer. Its about gearing

RolexNJ

Chris:

I hear what you are saying about loosing some low end TQ. I understand that, thanks. As for me, my application for my car is going to be a very fast street, but also a track car. I see you are from NY, so obviously you're quite familar with "The Glen".I am too. I've raced there many times during my IMSA GTP days. Awesome track too. Anyway...

I spoke in great length yesterday with Scott Gomes. It was a very very educational conversation, at least to someone like me. Him and I talked about a lot; ranging from balance shaft delete kits, light-weight valve train, solid lifters in general, etc. While I cannot proclaim by any means to be an expert on those subjects, it definately enlightend me to stock vs solid theories. There is a bit of misinformation out there. As such, I learned a lot from him. He really is a great guy to talk too.

At this point, I can't go into why I am converting to solid lifters. There is a reason why, and no like yourself, I am not planning on spinning my engine past 7K too. I want it to last. When you can, check out my profile and you will see all the mods I had/am having done to my car. It will address your statements about leight-weight valve train issues with an 8V vs. 16V. And also, check out the pics too, I just posted a few new ones. One that you may be interested in seeing is the sharp-looking custom cam housing Lindsey Racing just made for me.

eclou

Running a solid lifter set-up as others have mentioned is really a necessity forced when:

1)smaller displacement n/a motor is squeezed for every last drop of power via rpms
2)when running some insanely high ramp angles on a cam. It is an expensive proposition either way

FI is a much easier way to produce power and TQ. Our cars are FI already, why not take advantage of that fact?

I have had some solid lifter cars in the past - 6.6L street rod, Taurus SHO, M5. These cars required valve lash adjustments via shims or rocker arms every 15-30k miles. It was a PITA to do routinely, along with weekly carb mixture adjustments, weekly header bolt torquing, spark plug cleaning and gapping.

Chris White

OK , I took a look at your profile – you do have the right parts to take advantage of the solid lifter set up! Not knowing what you were working with it was easy (and a little wrong) to assume you were thinking about ‘just’ the solid lifter cam without the other goodies needed.

Yep – The Glen is a little over an hour from me, I get a lot of time there in the summer ( I teach with PCA and BMWCCA).

Feel free to drop me a line on your engine management project, that is one of my favorite areas…

Chris White

RolexNJ

Chris:

Did you see the custom-made inspection ports? Pretty Kool?

And I appreciate the offer on the engine management too. If/when I cross that bridge, I'll let you know. Are you going to go to the Glen this year with your chapter? Are you going to have your 3.1L street car done by then? I don't know where you are on your project?

I'm pretty sure I will be up there, but I could always call you and touch base at some point. I loooove that track! It is about a 3 hr ride for me, but so worth it.

NZ951

Rob,

Does Lindsey Racing make custom headers now? I didnt see anyting on their site... yours look pretty sweet.