Flat vs Roller, Blown 454
11-19-2014, 01:52 PM
#13
Registered
in this day&age it is foolish to use a flat tappet camshaft.every production engine comes with roller,s today for a reason.yes the initial cost is higher but you will sleep better knowing that it will never go flat.i am pretty good at selecting a camshaft from a book but now i call bob madera for almost every build i do.his knoledge is amazing and his prices are the same or less than the big cam company,s.
11-19-2014, 06:01 PM
#14
Registered
iTrader: (3)
I helped oso member "WAYNE272" a while back picking out some parts for a similar build. He had a pair of stock 365HP mags. He bought some 177 blowers, single carb, crane flat tappet cam, crower cam saver lifters, basic rebuild on the hard parts. Engines made somewhere around 580HP at 5400RPM, with only about 4.5lbs of boost. Torque was over 600 ft lbs.
That same combo with a 250 blower, twin carbs, 5-6lbs of boost, should easily make 600 or 625hp.
Without a doubt roller is the way to go. Flat tappets can work though, they did for stock 575sci's, 600sc's, 800sc's, 525sc's, and plenty of them out there still running around.
I would have to highly suggest if going with a flat tappet, the crower grooved lifters, a quality oil with plenty of zinc, a good cam core, and proper break in are a must.
Keeping the cam lobes coated in oil is a must. The grooved lifters help with that. Back when I ran flat tappets (non grooved lifters), whenever in long no wake zones, I made it a habit of putting them in nuetral and reving them up once and a while to splash some extra oil on the cam.
That same combo with a 250 blower, twin carbs, 5-6lbs of boost, should easily make 600 or 625hp.
Without a doubt roller is the way to go. Flat tappets can work though, they did for stock 575sci's, 600sc's, 800sc's, 525sc's, and plenty of them out there still running around.
I would have to highly suggest if going with a flat tappet, the crower grooved lifters, a quality oil with plenty of zinc, a good cam core, and proper break in are a must.
Keeping the cam lobes coated in oil is a must. The grooved lifters help with that. Back when I ran flat tappets (non grooved lifters), whenever in long no wake zones, I made it a habit of putting them in nuetral and reving them up once and a while to splash some extra oil on the cam.
11-19-2014, 06:29 PM
#16
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
iTrader: (2)
I had a nice conversation with Bob Madura a couple of hours ago. Always a pleasure talking to him! He knows his stuff!
In our conversation we pretty much came to the understanding that moving to the roller set up is good investment for the longer term even if the current short block were to go south over the next couple of seasons. The first order of business: inventory of all the parts.
My heads are comparable to the 088 head, maybe a little better. Some flow numbers would be good, but he seems to think that with a once over to refresh (and a check of the bottom end), we can get 650 HP out of the combination pretty easily, and that 700 HP is pretty attainable using one of his cams. It won't come cheap though (does it ever?). After all is said and done the valvetrain will probably run me another $1300-1400. Time to start saving those pennies!
We discussed flat tappets a little. The available cores and lifters are the issues now. They can work, but they're almost impossible to get the longevity out of them.
In our conversation we pretty much came to the understanding that moving to the roller set up is good investment for the longer term even if the current short block were to go south over the next couple of seasons. The first order of business: inventory of all the parts.
My heads are comparable to the 088 head, maybe a little better. Some flow numbers would be good, but he seems to think that with a once over to refresh (and a check of the bottom end), we can get 650 HP out of the combination pretty easily, and that 700 HP is pretty attainable using one of his cams. It won't come cheap though (does it ever?). After all is said and done the valvetrain will probably run me another $1300-1400. Time to start saving those pennies!
We discussed flat tappets a little. The available cores and lifters are the issues now. They can work, but they're almost impossible to get the longevity out of them.
