Solid Roller

[69CamaroRacer]

I have been kicking around the idea of installing a solid roller in my 383. I have a hydro roller now and have been disappointed with the power out put. Dyno Only showed 336 rwhp and Car ran 12.22 @ 112. I would love to see some mid 11's . Would it be possible to reuse the hydro lifters ?? I know they are a hydro but I was thinking a roller lifter is a roller lifter right??? The cam I am concidering is the xr280r 242 int./248 ex .570 in and .576 ex. The cam I have now has simular specs. So the springs may be able to be reused... So what do I need to do the swap..



The setup is a 383 with 195 AFR's 10.5-1 Comp Mag .236 .236@ 50 with .580 .580 lift. Car is a stock bodied 69 RS and has 3.55 gears and a th 350 with 3500 stall.

[nicks67camaro]

mmm...I LOVE my solid roller motor! I'm am not a solid roller guru my friend is the brain behind my motor but what i've pick up say no resuing the same lifters. Crowler makes some nice cut away style with the pressure fed oil hole in them. Solid rollers put more strain on everything! Beware of cam walk! I have a machine piece between my timing cover and water pump. I run my solid roller lifter clearance tight..they need to check and adjusted from time to time. (do it twice a year) I am not trying to sway you away from solid but its more "hands on" for a motor. There are more things to pay attention like rocker arms, stud girdles, valve springs, valves, I have my sbc 409 with afr 210cc heads, comp cams solid roller, 6 inch rod, victor jr, block is decked, align bored, splayed main caps, I modified the oiling system so the front and rear oil gallies are joined for better oiling. The motor pulls to 6800 hard and fast. I had an old hydro 404 with the street 195 AFR's that was good for torque but lower RPM's. sorry I don't have any cam specs cam card is in the garage somewhere and can't remember off the top of my head. hope this helps.

[GetMore]

I don't think you will see any improvement going from a hydraulic roller to a solid roller with similar specs. The rason you'd run a solid roller over a hydraulic roller is if you want the extra rpm at the top end where a hydro would start to float the valves, or when you have too much spring pressure and would collapse the hydraulic lifter.

If you went from a hydraulic flat tappet cam to a solid roller of "similar" specs you might have seen gains like you are thinking of.

[RSX302]

The setup is a 383 with 195 AFR's 10.5-1 Comp Mag .236 .236@ 50 with .580 .580 lift. Car is a stock bodied 69 RS and has 3.55 gears and a th 350 with 3500 stall.

I wondering why your not getting more from your current setup? I don't have all your info, but I would think you should see allot more hp then what you have.

I plugged in 383ci, 10.5:1, AFR185's,Comp XR276 (224/230@ .05), Roller Lifters, Single Plane Manifold, 750cfm Carb, Small tube headers w/mufflers and it shows 483hp @ 5500rpm/493tq @ 4500rpm.

Stay with your hydraulics and find out whats going on with what you have.

[69CamaroRacer]

thoes were RWHP nubers so if you add 20% for drivetrain losses then it is very close to thoes numbers.. 436hp and 480 tq. I think my trap speed is the best indicator...

[JEFFTATE]

Sounds like you have a tuning issue.
Your setup should make a lot more HP and Torque.

[69CamaroRacer]

I know I have had nothing but problems with this build.... Annoying leaks that keep comming back, freak oil pan failures, torque converters not wanting to bolt up, and worst of all disappointing power numbers. It has been so frustraighting that I actuly put the car away for the last 6 mo and am just now getting back into it. I dropped serious coin on the build bought the best parts and even had the heads and intake ported and flowed and what did I get ?? An engine that I could have bought for a 1/3 of what I spent. I have 12k invested and the gm ht383 makes about the same power for $4600. Grrrr!!

[JEFFTATE]

What about the converter ?
Maybe the motor is making more.
Your'e just not getting it to the back tires ?

[nicks67camaro]

what about your ignition? I've had great luck with the msd pro billet and msd 6al! how about carb...rich / lean I use a heated 3 wire with an O2 gauge for a good reading. There are variables everywhere.

[RSX302]

Even with the Automatic, I think you should be putting down more rwhp. (~380rwhp).Maybe its not the motor? Trans issues? (Torque Converter?) Your loosing at least 50 hp from somewhere. Does the motor sound strong and revs up quick but you still moving slow? I've heard cars sound like there doing mach shifting through gears but only going about 50mph.
Although we can only guess at your problems what intake/Carb are you running? How do the plugs look?

I'm not sure what you mean by Pan Failure (thats scary) but pan and crank seal leaks are mostly caused by pressure build-up in the bottom end. Is the motor vented enough? That leads me to another possibility. How much blow-by is occuring? Do a dry compression check and compare it by putting a squirt of oil in and check it again. If the pressure increases then you may have ring sealing issues.

[69CamaroRacer]

ron, You got me thinking with that ring seal idea... I remember doing a compressionn test awhile back and It was around 290psi but I never tried a wet test. I will have to try that when I get home tonight. The carb is a 750 hp and the intake is a RPM Airgap that has had some work done to it to balance the flow between ports.

[GetMore]

290 sounds really high!
Maybe you meant 190? Even that sounds a touch on the high end, I think that would be right on the limit for pump gas. Maybe the cam is retarded?

[MonzaRacer]

Actually the 190 reading would be right on with a 10.5 engine and right where it should be.
As for making the power I used LT4 HOT rollers and made well over 500 hp and all we did was swap from 1.5 to 1.65 rockers going from .492 lift(rated .525 with 1.6) to .541.
As for me I am wondering what your tuning specs are.
you should be making a soild 550 out of that combo if not more.
The 195s do take a little away from the top end but its a low end torque engine by design.
A good way to actually test the engine is to use a leak down rather than a compression test.
and as for me in all actuallity I am not impressed with off the shelf converters. I would call TCI or BTE or these guys http://www.transmissioncenter.net/ and get some better ideas on a more matched converter.
Also your not gonna get the best times out of the 355 gears and 190 heads. Actually a set of AFR 200 or 215 heads would have been a better choice.
anotherthing is keep giving that engine timing, so many people will tune them and forget to keep giving it as much timing as it wants and add in Vacuum advance never run a street car without it.
To me it sounds like tuning issues over bad engine but a leak down and a dedicated tuning session might help more.
Lee Abel
AFTERMARKET PERFORMANCE

[69CamaroRacer]

The PSI was 195.. As for the converter it is a Coan and it was special ordered for this combo... When we did the dyno testing and found that the engine made the best power with 25* initial (there was a problem with the dist advanceing..) and 38* total.. As for an advance the dist is a MSD probillet 55551 and it has a mechanical advance... and we played with jetting and found the best power with 74* and 82* in the secondary... I never was able to see the actual torque number as the Dyno did not start reading until 4800 rpm and the torque was 335 and declining. I imagine that the peak is around 3500 rpm. I agree that some tuning is needed but I live in redneckville and finding people who actually qualified and professional has always been a problem.

[JEFFTATE]

What do you mean , " the Dyno did not start reading until 4800 rpm ".

[69CamaroRacer]

Well just like it sounds... the torque readings did not start till around 4800...... I know the converter is loose but there is no way it is that high of a stall.... I can foot brake it to 3200 and will flash to 3500.

[GetMore]

It is possible that the dyno was not capable of holding back your engine until power had dropped off quite a bit, and that 4800 rpm is that point.
Maybe you have a lot more low end than you thought!?