Comp cams Short travel lifters BBC
 

Looking for opinions based on experience with the product. Thanks. COMP Cams Short Travel Hydraulic Roller Lifters 15854-16
N/A 572s; I talked to Gabe a tech at Comp and described the type of running I do; cruise between 3500-4500 and occasional run up to 5k
and he said most of the traits their solid lifters have the short travels will display as well, ie noise (not a big deal), not ideal for idling for extended periods of time, more frequent adjustment intervals, and showing the most benefits above 5500-6K rpm. His opinion was to run a std travel hyd roller which I'm inclined to agree with.

I run short travel Johnson’s, zero issues, no noise, no adjustments, the reason for running them is deflection in Oliver above 600 lift and higher rpm stability to not bleed down, another plus is if one fails it basically becomes a solid and will have little lash, won’t cause other issues or enough slip to destroy things. I would run them only in a HR application as recommended by every single cam company I talked to when doing cams also, or go solid ...the only reason I didn’t go solid was checking lash would require taking exhaust off, new boat will probably get solids since I can pull valve covers with Stellings on

I used those lifters in my 454... I had a pair that went bad about ten hours into running (wouldn't hold oil pressure). I replaced the pair, and never had issues after.

I was running Comp 953 springs with my 525 EFI cam... the lifters would bleed down overnight, and make starting a bit hard. Once warmed up, there would be no issues until the next day... never really bothered me much, though occasionally, this would cause a mild pop through the blower. This could have been attributed to the oil I was running (Mobil V-Twin 20W50). I don't recall that this was an issue when running Rotella 40 WT (during break-in).

Thanks Tim, What kind of spring pressure are you running? Did you decide to run short travels because you run the motors up near the top frequently? I have heard of their traits of they bleed down and behaving like a solid lifter, that a positive. "deflection in Oliver"? I could go soild I'm actually more comfortable doing valve adjustments with solids than hydraulics. But, I'm running these motors pretty light 3500-4500 and looking to get some hours out of them. Solids are going to be harder on the cam etc etc. Kinda why I wanted to stay hydraulic. The boat wont see much above 5k-5500 and only for very short stints. I just talked to Nolan at Isky, they have the HPX like that sounds like a winner, Johnson bodies with isky internals. I liked what he was saying; great salesman, lol...
EDIT; Tim, you have 110ish hours on those now? Zero adjustments? I'm assuming you've checked tho.

Thanks Tom, you were using the Comp short travels or the Johnsons?

I think my spring pressures are 175 on the seat 550 open if I recall or something close to that I’ve never had to check anything as nothing has given me any problems Randy at Johnson lift or is a friend of mine he said just put them in and run them they will be fine I’ve had zero problems

Ok, no problems BUT you cant say for sure that the lash is right on after 110? I mean I do valves at 2000 hrs on the tug MTUs and you'd never know if anything is wrong but some do require an adjustment from tightening up. Know what I mean.

I will for sure give Randy a shout! Totally appreciate that lead Tim!

I was using the Comp lifters.

I have no issues or noise, have no reason to check lash they are still hydraulic, Randy never said I had to, I will ask though to be sure.

if the lash tighten,s up the valve seat is moving,it is not a lifter problem and adjusting the lash won,t fix the root cause of the problem.

I agree. That is the whole reason for hydraulic.

If "lash" needs to be changed so does your cam and lifters. :)

Hell just froze over, we agreed! lol

I have disagree that solids are "harder on the cam" and what not. Solid type lifters have been used in engines that have extremely long rebuild intervals. Many heavy duty / industrial diesel engines have utilized solid lifters, in both roller and flat tappet form. A caterpillar marine diesel, after the initial valve adjustment, the interval ranges from 1000 to 3000 hours.

You can have a solid roller camshaft that is very easy on parts, and have another one that is very hard on parts. Big difference between an endurance grind with 630 lift , and a drag race grind with 750+ lift. To me, pulling the valve covers isnt the end of the world. Its a bit tight on mine with the stellings headers, but its certainly not horrible. Even if once a year I had to loosen the headers a bit to get clearance. They also have 2 piece valve covers, etc. Its not like youre gonna have to pull them every weekend and check them. For most guys, once a season either in fall or spring . '
'
Hydraulics are not without issues. Tons of guys here have had issues with hydraulic lifters of various brands. Alot of guys are building big power these days, and dont wanna deal with adjusting the valves, but in reality, arent getting the life out of the engines they think they will. Meaning, building a set of 1000s, and think they are gonna go 300 hours without touching anything and just put gas in the thing and go boating. Thats pretty rare.
'
Theres a lot of variables when it comes to hydraulics. How much rpm can they take, what grade of oil, what oil temperature, are they pumping up or bleeding down at higher rpm, etc. And no, you wont know if something like a valve seat is getting pounded into the head, or a valve getting a slight tulip to it, or a worn cam lobe, until the damage has spread thru the engine like cancer.

Crane solid roller 304/312 254/262 at .050 with .636/.636 lift

Crane solid roller 286/294 254/262 at .050 with .714/.714 lift

which one ya think is gonna be harder on parts?

Hey, I ran that first cam (Ultradyne) for ~6yrs! Smooth as silk:)
Oh, BTW to OP I like solid Isky's.

You are correct sir. Yes, I know its not a lifter problem, but notice I didn't mention the lifter in that statement. I was just pointing out that in general sometimes you don't know if you have an issue (lash adjustment required) until you break out the feeler gauges...
When someone makes a blanket statement saying I've never had a problem therefore there's no problem, that doesn't necessarily mean there is not a problem.. Not picking on you Tim.
Yes, the valve seat/face surface is moving ever so slightly vertically, I dunno If I'd refer to it as moving; degradation maybe; getting tighter buy burying the face. That's what requires the adjustment on what I'm working on.

Guessing, 286/294 could be wrong.

Who would one look to for a quality solid roller and generally what is the cost compared to the hydraulic?

I would say the 286/294 is harder on parts. It has less duration which makes the lobes steeper and also more lift.

I built a turboed SBF engine for my street car almost 10 years ago. I know it's not a marine engine or BBC but when I built it I had reliability and low maintenance as top priority. I went with a solid roller cam that had "lazy" lobes. It would be easy on the valve train and not require high spring pressure to control. It had 238/238 @ .050 and a .560/.560 lift (minus .020 lash) on a 114 seperation. For a 352 ci engine I wouldn't call it small, but it has incredible street manners.

Valve train stabiliy is a must. I spent the money and went with T&D shaft rockers. I check the lash once a year and the lash is always dead on. I like the ability to see if something is going bad before it takes out the engine.

I know checking lash on a marine engine is a PITA with the exhaust usually in the way.

I don't mean to muddy up anything here getting a little off the subject but I would imagine t&d's are more than likely to be determined the best and then we have Jessel and Yella Terra etc. I was told to get yella terra but my concern is do I wait until the builds are near complete. Is it possible one vs the other will be a better fit. In the past using stud mount rockers I remember using different rockers that provided a better fit and alignment although I wasn't using stud girdles either. Not sure what route to go. Not even sure what my options are with shaft mount rockers on promaxx heads.

Ive heard stud girdles can make rocker adjustment somewhat difficult as you tighten down girdle as it ties everything together it can change lash. I would imagine snugging everything down together in a sense may help or is it possible if you tighten down the girdle after setting lash and it changes then maybe you have the incorrect girdle or needs some mods. These are for solid roller sc engines.

Rookie did you try yella terra yet? I thought I recall you seeing them at the pri trade show and were convinced.