Well, i have a solid roller cam with .510 lift int/exh with 236 duration. roller rockers and crane roller lifters. the ones with the cross etch for better oiling. long story short, i had about 50 miles on the motor and was going on a trip and noticed what i thought to be the rockers ticking too loud. so i adjusted them and the noise didn't get much better. so this being my first solid motor i thought it was normal. after driving another 300 miles the ticking got louder, then turned to a clunking. shut the car down and towed it home.
So, yesterday i finally got to tear it apart and tried to find the problem. first the rockers were good. still had ticking. thought it might be a bent valve. so i then took the intake off so i could get the heads off. my oil valley was painted orange to help with oiling(something my father-in-law does to all motors), good thing because i noticed little silver metal parts. looked at a few and knew right away, they were roller pins. i then pulled the lifters. i had two where the roller pins were completly gone and the ***** flattened. i found 4 more where the pins that go through the roller ball were loose and one almost fell out. needles to say, i will never buy used valvetrain again. the lifters were used, got them off ebay. guy said they had 500 miles on them.

Has anyone else had problems with failed roller lifters? What's the best brand so this doesn't happen again?
Needless to say, i am pulling the motor to give it a cleaning and inspection. i am really worried about the cam. solid roller custom ground=$550

 

Friend of mine had one go bad on him but I'm not sure of the brand. Wiped out one lobe and ground down the roller pretty well. He now runs Lunati solid roller lifters which his engine builder also uses and has had good luck with them.

 

Anybody else?

 

Were they a pressure-fed roller? It may just be me being **** about it, but I only put out lifters that are pressure fed (Crower HIPPO, Comp Endur-X or whatever it's called, Isky, and Jesel also make pressure fed lifters. My favorites to use are Jesel, Isky, and Crower).

Solid rollers like oil pressure. Lot's of oil pressure - 30-35+ psi. Idle RPMs and concomitant low oil pressure can beat SR lifters to death. I typically say 13-1500 RPM's is lowest for SR's that see any form of street.

A rev kit would help pin the lifter to cam, instead of bouncing off the ramp. A wise investment, IMO.

 

Friend of mine had a SR lifter explode on him at the end of last season... carnage was pretty good, though isolated. Nuked the lifter, bent and broke a pushrod, and snapped the rocker stud off as well. That last bit is amazing and baffling to me - he uses a beefy stud gridle too. Cam seemed to be OK though. I don't know if he ever did find out why it happened (It never spins over 5600 or so, so its not an RPM or valve float issue - had fresh springs too). Replaced the parts and it seems fine now?