# Running hydraulic cam with solid lifters...



## Agmans70Goat (Mar 11, 2020)

Hello everyone,
I just recently watched one of the "car/engine tech shows" ( I dont know if I can mention tv show names on here so Im erring on the side of caution) that I like and I thought this was interesting.

Anyway, they actually did a comparison of running a hydraulic cam with solid lifters vs. hydraulic lifters with the same hyd. cam, and they got some interesting results. They dynoed each set up (using the same engine and just swapping the lifters and push rods) and actually pulled about 10 HP more using the solid lifters, they also discussed the advantages of solid lifters over hydraulics (loss of oil pressure, etc ). 

I was wondering if anyone else watched this, I thought it was kind of interesting and might make for a good discussion here.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

The big difference is the clearance ramps used for each type of lifter. But first, 10 HP on the dyno won't be felt too much at the rear wheels. Here is what I found that says it pretty straight forward,

"Metal isn't any different, both are cast cams with the same heat treatment, as are the lifters. The difference is that the hydraulic cam doesn't have the valve lash clearance "take-up" ramp ground into the lobe profile, to softly take up the valve lash clearance without pounding parts to death. Run solid lifters on a hydraulic cam and it will beat the valvetrain to death, along with the difference between durations caused by the lack of the clearance ramp will make the cam seem much bigger with solid lifters on a hydraulic cam. Not something you want to try to do."

I would not recommend it. Always get matching parts.


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