CAM Question
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,711
Likes: 43
From: San Antonio TX
It's not the ramps. Those are inconsequential. It's the taper on the entire lobe. A flat tappet cam has a taper gound into the lobe. This works with the convex ground into the lifter face and forces the lifter to spin on the lobe. A roller cam has no taper since the lifter has a roller riding on the lobe. If you were to use a roller lifter on a flat tappet cam, the roller would make contact only on a tiny part of the lobe and would also experience axial loading of the roller from the taper. The bottom line is still no, though.
