Thinking about puttin an Isky solid roller in my 454
290/294, 256/260, .680/.680 on a 110.
this recommendation comes from a very knowledgable person ;) just wondering if anyone has any experiences with the isky solid rollers, seems like eveyrones running lunati. Looking for max power without too much stress on the valvetrain.

What,
You don't want another of Harold's cams?

680 is quite a bit of lift for a street car engine. I'd expect you would need top quality stuff in the valvetrain along with careful maintenance. Is this a street car or a race only car? Just my own thinking, but I start thinking race car if the lift is over 650. What is the required seat and over the nose pressure required?

Tom

street car. will have titanium retainers, good pushrods, ferrea valves, isky red zone lifters and steel billet cam. spring specs for that cam are
215 on the seat 1.950
and 540 open pressure
i was kinda thinking along the same lines, but was recommended this cam.

not using a harold cam doesn't have anything to do with my flat cam.

do you think the guy who recommended that cam will stop by and fix the broken stuff for you? 215 on the seat isn't really streetable, IMO. Not if it's actually going to be driven, like putting thousands of miles per year on it. I've had real race car engines that only had 200 on the seat. Was it somebody like Ed at Isky that recommended that? Did you tell him it is a street car?

Tom

no the person who told me won't fix my engine, i do trust him. However i do like hearing input from you guys too! This is a solid roller and as i am sure you know they take more spirng than a flat tappet. Rod at isky told me this was a decent cam for me also, but i think i will call "ron" at isky tomorrow also. I guess it wouldn't hurt to step down to something in the 630's or 650's in terms of lift. what do you think of the isky's cams in general?

Cody,

I'm running an Isky "street roller" in my 454.

Nice quality stuff. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

My cam s a custom grind:

290 / 290 deg advertised
248 / 252 deg @ .050"
157 / 162 deg @ .200"
.602"/ .646" (w/1.7 rockers)
110 LSA (installed @ 106)(should've gone 108LSA)


The lobes are pretty gentle (for a roller) when compared to some of the newer lobe profiles but I think for a true street roller its about perfect.

Power starts coming on strong about 2500-2600 and pulls good to 6500.

Might get a little disagreement from Mike ;) but this cam does not require a lot of spring pressure. Ron recommended their 9005 spring which specs out at 185lb/465lb.

I use to run an pretty aggressive Lunati oval track grind and I had troulbe keeping springs in it (kept breaking). I decided that since I don't race the much, I would "tone down" the drive train to make a more reliable street car.

I'm also considering experimenting with 1.8 rockers on the intake side. Looking for a little more aggressive ramp and a little more lift. Talk to Rod at Isky about this and he told me there would be no issues doing this. Springs will handle the additional lift and reliability should not be an issue.

Hope I helped, if you have any more questions, let me know.

I think there is always a compromise on what you REALLY want to do with a car. Will it see the track once a year? Will it get 10k or 1k miles a year?? Will it have street tires or are you going to drive around on ET streets all the time? If you are going to run hard street tires power is less of a concern, ie whether you have 610 or 670 HP.

If you really want the most power you can get, and want to keep an eye on the valvetrain, and don't want a car that is more of a highway driver, then the solid roller makes sense. If you want to put on 5k miles at a time without ever thinking about the valvetrain, I would consider a hyd roller and not plan on going over 6k, or even a solid flat tappet which will RPM more than a HR.

In other words, for what YOU are going to do, are you going to really see/feel the differnce of 50HP or so the solid roller might make?

My new "street" BBC will see the track 80% of the time it is running. I went solid roller.

Cody,

I ran an Isky custom solid roller in my old 383 SBC and have a new one sitting on the shelf to go in a new engine within the next month or so. In the 383 SBC, I picked up about 34 RWHP over a smaller less aggressive Crane with no loss in peak TQ. It didn't require an over the top spring either. In short, they are quality cams and make good power.

If your car is really more of a street car I would pull back to something more like Darren is running. You will leave power on the table, but that is a decision you will have to come to in the great street car/race car debate.

Running an custom ground Isky solid roller in a 502 GM shortblock with Merlin Heads.
.620" lift 254/264 duration at .050 lift
Great street cam - regular Isky solid roller lifters are plenty strong for this cam - lots of street miles and no problems. Don't know the specs on the springs but they came from Isky and are less than what you have listed.

Cody,
Mine is a SB 406, but I have run a solid roller on the street for a few years, so I thought I would tell my story.
10,000 street miles on a Comp solid roller, lift .585, but mild 230duration on 110. Recommended spring pressure from comp was 155 seat and 435 open. I went 205 seat and 485 open, MORE spring than recommended. Why, because I think that the worst thing you can do it loft a solid roller to come crashing down, period.
We changed that cam out a month ago, and every piece was like brand new, and I mean brand new. My rev limiter was set at 6,600 and it bounced off that every time I drove the car.
I just changesd the entire set-up to Isky, solid roller as I wanted a bit more cam for the street. It has even stiffer springs, and a rev kit to hold them rollers in their place.

My point is really only on spring pressure, ask a lot of old guys that actually run solid rollers on the street, I would guess the old farts like me still get a stiff spring, no pun intended.

Buy the way, I lift .618in and .608EX, with the new Isky cam. RedZones, Titanium Retainers, super 7 locks, moly big pushrods, Gold 1.6 rockers etc. good stuff does not break as often.

I am going to have to disagree with this being too aggressive for the street with todays generation of lifters.
What is the point in putting a killer set of heads on an engine that breathe to .700 & then sticking a .600 lift cam in it. This is a performance engine.
.680 gross is just not a issue today with the quality of lifters out there & you are talking about .640-.650 net with these lobes in a rat.
As for spring pressure almost every engine builder I know will tell you to err on the heavy side with a roller simply because if the roller comes off the cam it will beat the crap out of the cam & valve train.
In my opinion, 225/550 is not too heavy for a roller especially in a Rat with a good lifter & a billet cam.

Mike, cut that out, you beat me to the stiff stuff again.
See, I told you the old farts know a stiff spring is always a good thing.
Mike, the new cam is wonderful, thanks for your help on all the parts.
Vintage Air is installed in the car, out of the hospital with it next week.

Hi Patrick,
You are welcome, glad I could help you a little with your "toy" graemlins/beers.gif
That is such a cool car,,, almost makes me want to build another but I don't know where I'd find the time :(
Been real busy trying to get the new dyno set up & gettin the old one ready to go to Maine.
I don't guess I could have found someone any further away to sell it to in the USofA ;)

Mine is very similar to Darren's as well. I'm running the Isky RR-620

290 / 290 deg advertised
248 / 248 deg @ .050
.620 / .620 lift
108 LSA

This cam has a sound like "If ya touch me I'll eat ya" and it pulls real hard thru 6500 rpm

Gaz/4+1Rat

I think Gazzer's cam is a nice one for an AFR headed 454. I think its tame enough for the street, should last many miles, and its a single pattern which is nice given the AFR's intake/exhaust flow ratio.

Cody, I started to build my engine around the same time you started on your engine build. My combo is similar to yours. AFR heads, but the 315 version and 4.25 stroke. I finished up on my build about a year and half ago. I decided to go with a solid roller setup.
It’s a UD custom grind, set up for a stick with 685/680 lift and like 292/300 duration, set up on a 110 lobe sep.
I spoke to Harold on the phone for about 2hrs on this cam grind. He mentioned, like (the other guys here on the board) you don’t have to run "killer" spring pressure to run this cam on the street, but enough to keep proper lifter contact with the cam. I have some Manley Nextex springs setup @ 145 lbs on the seat.

I have put about 3000 miles on the engine currently, Driving the car to work 2 to 3 times a week (according my wallet for gas) feeding 2 600’s and cruising in the weekend.
I have checked the valve adjustment 4 times currently and they are all still in specs. I have the direct oiling option on my roller lifters, also.
I hope to post some sounds and vids of the engine running. For you guys to check out.
This is my personal experience running "moderate" 685.lift cam on the street.
I hope this can be of help to every one -).

well that sure is a lot less spring pressure, sounds like you ahve a healthy motor! can't wait to see the video!

Originally posted by Da_chevyman:
Cody, I started to build my engine around the same time you started on your engine build. My combo is similar to yours. AFR heads, but the 315 version and 4.25 stroke. I finished up on my build about a year and half ago. I decided to go with a solid roller setup.
It’s a UD custom grind, set up for a stick with 685/680 lift and like 292/300 duration, set up on a 110 lobe sep.
I spoke to Harold on the phone for about 2hrs on this cam grind. He mentioned, like (the other guys here on the board) you don’t have to run "killer" spring pressure to run this cam on the street, but enough to keep proper lifter contact with the cam. I have some Manley Nextex springs setup @ 145 lbs on the seat.

I have put about 3000 miles on the engine currently, Driving the car to work 2 to 3 times a week (according my wallet for gas) feeding 2 600’s and cruising in the weekend.
I have checked the valve adjustment 4 times currently and they are all still in specs. I have the direct oiling option on my roller lifters, also.
I hope to post some sounds and vids of the engine running. For you guys to check out.
This is my personal experience running "moderate" 685.lift cam on the street.
I hope this can be of help to every one -). =
Everett
I hope Harold happens buy on this but I think you may be mistaken.
I highly doubt Harold would ever recommend 145 on the seat with that cam.
I personally would not consider running that pressure with a solid roller, even one with a lot less aggressive lobes than that.
What Nextek spring are you running that is 145 on the seat?
Are these the Nextek upgrades from AFR?
I wouldn't consider less than 175 & preferably 200 plus with an absolute minimum of 475 & preferably 500+ open.

i say run the isky, i beleive it will be fine for a long while, as long as the ramp isn't real aggresive it should be cool.
I mean i have had 650, 660 lift rollers that would break parts faster than you could replace them, but the thing was a 107 lsa and with real nasty valve action, it was fast and made power but too much headaches. and i agree 200 on the seat and 550 plus open as well, i would run 145 on the seat with flat tappet cams, you have to keep that roller planted, no bouncing or skipping.

That cam sounds like a good choice, Cody. You picked a good compression ratio, and that is why I like that cam for your motor. I run a cam with numbers like the one your considering to run, and it does not in any way lack torque down low! I also feel it is too mild for my combo. It is a little low on lift, but I feel as wolfplace feels that it is pointless to purchase heads that flow great at .700 lift and use a cam with .600 lift. I also like doing donuts in front of the local sheriffs office too, so I may not be the most rational person to give advice.

Just looked up my settings for Isky Roller Springs for my street driven SB.
213lbs at 1.985 and 490lbs at 1.385 plus we have a rev kit that adds static pressure on the rollers at all times, so even more pressure. Street lift with 1.6 ratio is .618 and .608, and that cam in the 406 passed our Smog police dyno sniffer. I did bolt on a set of Randon high flow cats for the dyno hehehe.
We tested my old springs from the old Comp cast SR cam, that had 10,000 street miles on it, and the spring pressure on them was still 200lbs at 1.985 and 465lbs at 1.385.
Spring pressure even on that old cast cam, for the street proves to me at least, those pressures kept that cast cam alive.