I am wanting to put a solid cam in my upcoming 383 and was wondering if they are good for a daily driver...It will be similair to a XE274

I have had two..one in a daily 383 and one in a daily 406....I loved mine. Get the polylocks and set the valve lash, and go...I think they will last as long a s a good hydraulic...darn sure get more power out of them!

stupid question
Whats the difference between polylocks and the stock adjusting nuts most heads come with?

I've been running a solid for over a year and a helluvalot of miles. I put 700 miles on it last night alone. I've been averaging 300 a day for the past several weeks.

I drive it on the highway at 1800 to 2000 rpm constantly.

It works just as well as a hydraulic. From all the hydraulic cam failures I've heard of (and the one I experienced), I think it may well work better than a hydraulic in a daily driver.

I guess the lash on a solid allows oil to get between the lifter and cam. Hydraulics are always "face to face".

Keep in mind gentlemen, solids came before hydaulics arrived en masse, so the real question is, how aggressive of a cam can I run with solids? Or another question, , can I run a MORE aggressive cam with solid lifters and still get good street longevity? It's just as good as a comparable hydraulic grind for sure, but better?

I think that a solid cam is happier at revs too. No less happy at idle than a hyd cam ( remember, solids have a lash, so once every cam revolution there is a gap between the lobe and lifter for oil to refill)either.

(With the easy lobes of the Crane F304, with 35,000 miles on it, a good GM tech I know said it was mint. Good to run again. And that cam saw somewhere well north of 7200 before I put a rev chip and realized how far I was spinning it!! :eek )

Granted the OE Chevy HI Perf solid cams were not aggressive pieces but Chevy did offer a warrenty on thier engines as did Ford and Mopar on "most" of their solid lifter engines....Quite possibly the most durable domestic gasoline engine was the Mopar slant 6 engine and 95% of them had solid lifter cams.

I agree with Gene....it comes down to how aggressive of a lobe you use.The faster acting it is the harder they generally are on parts.Thats not to say you cant kill a gentle cam..you can... but a less aggressive one is more likely to go the distance than a real aggressive one will.

Either way a good solid cam will generally do things better than a typical hyd cam will.

Stangslayer. There's no such thing as a stupid question. The polylocks have a jam nut to help keep them from working loose. They are the ticket for solid cams. For a daily driver I would check the valve lash once a month. Also with a solid cam I feel that roller rockers make it alot easier to set your valve lash. They do not rock from side to side while you are using a feeler guage. Hope this helps out in your selection. graemlins/thumbsup.gif