What's the difference between springs made for a flat tappet cam and springs made for a roller cam? I see ProAction heads forsale on ebay and stuff and they advertise upto .600" lift springs but not for roller cams. I'm just wondering what the difference is. I have a cam with about .515" lift, but it's a hydraulic roller cam. Thanks.

Ryan

 

differant cams have differant requirements as far as springs go. few of the factors about selecting a spring is diameter, seat preasure, open preasure, installed height, and coil bind height. for what ever cam you run you need a spring to meet the requirements to keep the valve closed and return it to rest when not on the opening side of the cam. rollers as far as i know always require more/bigger/stronger springs. i'd buy a set of springs from comp, lunati, or crane and trash anyone and everyone elses springs. i'd especially be careful of gm, k motion, and any springs installed on a set of heads of unknown makers or quality.

 

Roller springs are able to handle the quicker snap of the ramps of the roller cam. The lobes on a roller cam have faster ramps.


Brian Felts

 

Yes, a roller valve train should be able to handle that. However, that is rather odd in the face of what springs the factory used on SBC engines (and still does) all the way through the LT1s and Vortec 5.7 (still available through 2003 in full size vans). They are the same old 85#, 1.25" springs that Chevy used in 1955 - flat tappet or roller.