Roller Camshaft- What are they all about?

[mrtleavitt]

Ok guys, I'm starting the rebuild of my 428 and trying to decide how I want to go with it. So far I'm thinging of the Edelbrock performer RPM package with the 428 CJ heads, and a 750 carb(maybe bump up to 800 if I need to). I've heard a little here and there about roller cams and from what I've heard it sounds like its the way to go if you want to spend the extra money. The purpose of this engine is for my swb F100, no towing just a fun in town truck. I want the engine to be reliable and last a long time so I want to build it right. So I guess I now have 2 questions:

1. What's good and bad about a roller cam?

2. Should I consider stroking this 428? What will this do to reliability? (I understand the more power you try to get the more vulnerable the engine is, but what are all of your experiences with stroking an FE?)

[averagef250]

The bad side to roller FE cam is the initial price and the added complexity. the more complex something is the more there is to fail.

The biggest advantage is the ability to run more radical lobe ramps. You have to run the rest of the valvetrain to take that abuse though.

A longer stroke will lower the power band of the engine and reduce piston pin height. The lower power band is good if you're OK with not revving to the moon and higher pin height is usually bad for engine longevity.

It would be very wise to avoid edlelcrap power packages. Buy the manifold and heads and get everything else somewhere else. Thier cams and carbs suck.

[mrtleavitt]

I know their carb suck but what kind of problems have you had with their cams? I've used crane, comp, and edelbrock cams and I've liked them all.

[flatblack]

there is really no downside to a roller cam other than the price. and edelbrock isnt what they used to be, now they are making the same off shore junk everyone else is, as soon as you buy a set of heads your going to need to resurface them and check for clearance for pushrods. if you wont be driving it everyday its a good idea to run a roller in case of a dry start taking off a lobe, you gain a few ponies, as well as you can run a more intense cam.

[DuckRyder]

The advantages are that there is less friction and in street oriented rollers increases durability. The ramps can be much faster so you generally will find for the same advertised duration the .050 duration is significantly longer.

Disadvantages are that increased sring pressures can be hard on valvetrains and for race orriented solid rollers the very high spring pressures can cause lifters to fail in extended idling (I'm talking about cams that most would consider too radical to run on the street here)

My advice would be to run pressure fed rollers and custom hollow pushrods to off set the added stress on the pushrods and lifters.

Crane made 2 hydralic rollers that were well liked. It seems Crane has shut down with possible plans to reorganize and reopen, so I don't tknow if you will be able to find one.

Crower offers a complete line of solid rollers and will custom grind one as well. They also offer pressure fed roller lifters and smith brothers will make the pushrods to your specifications.

I run a Crower 280R "Street Roller" and really like it. It has excellent street manners, idles decently runs (and sounds) very strong. I would not go more radical than a 290R for most street FE's and a 296 or 301R would be wild even in a big inch stroker...

[sideoilerfe]

It seems Crane has shut down with possible plans to reorganize and reopen, so I don't tknow if you will be able to find one....

That's a bummer. I liked Crane.

[rabbithunter2005]

If ya like quick throttel response roller is the way to go. I did it on a small block and it cost me about 800 bucks for machine work, cam, lifters, and pushrods. Judging by the high price of FE parts i'd say it's gonna be a little more unless you go with retrofit.

[DuckRyder]

$800.00 will barely buy the pressure fed roller lifters...

[swinn]

I looked at hydraulic roller lifters from Crane and a custom ground cam for my 390 rebuild, It was going to be around $1000 by the time I got it shipped to me. I decided to go with a hydralic flat tappet cam instead, was only around $200 including the lifters. If you have the money, the increased durability would be nice, also makes the break in easier and no worry about a cam lobe going flat during break in either.