Rhoads lifters
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
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From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Rhoads lifters
Are they around, still making HR lifters, anyone tried them?
Used to run their FT lifters in the day they did as claimed.
Curious....
Used to run their FT lifters in the day they did as claimed.
Curious....
Last edited by cv67; Sep 15, 2019 at 01:35 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2000
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From: Corsicana, Tx
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Ran them once in a 396. Hated them. Couldn't get them quiet no matter how they were adjusted. Worse as it warmed up and oil thinned.
Can't say they necessarily made the engine smoother at low speeds. Definitely noisy as heck though.
The ONE thing a hyd lifter can do well is be quiet. All the attempts to make them do the things they don't do as well don't work that well...especially on something with a heavy valvetrain and valve springs. The latest crop of hyd roller lifters do much better....along with new design cam lobes...and lighter valvetrains. The LS can buzz awful high with them...but look at the titanium valves etc. Large lobes, short pushrods all help.
If I want an engine to be quiet....I'll run a "not crazy" cam and good hyd lifters. If I want it to RPM...I'll just go solid and be done with it. Especially on a BBC. You can make them rev decent with hyd rollers...but they aren't particularly quiet and require some special attention to parts selection ( $$$).
JIM
Can't say they necessarily made the engine smoother at low speeds. Definitely noisy as heck though.
The ONE thing a hyd lifter can do well is be quiet. All the attempts to make them do the things they don't do as well don't work that well...especially on something with a heavy valvetrain and valve springs. The latest crop of hyd roller lifters do much better....along with new design cam lobes...and lighter valvetrains. The LS can buzz awful high with them...but look at the titanium valves etc. Large lobes, short pushrods all help.
If I want an engine to be quiet....I'll run a "not crazy" cam and good hyd lifters. If I want it to RPM...I'll just go solid and be done with it. Especially on a BBC. You can make them rev decent with hyd rollers...but they aren't particularly quiet and require some special attention to parts selection ( $$$).
JIM
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
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From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
the rhoads always made some noise which didnt bother me it sure did tame a larger cam when the oil got warm
I dont like any of the fast ramp cams they just beat stuff up and go flat fast
I dont like any of the fast ramp cams they just beat stuff up and go flat fast
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,382
Likes: 6,402
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
I ran the Rhoads lifters. Once. They were noisy, and did not produce any noticeable improvement in idle quality, idle vacuum, or low-end torque. I installed a good set of standard hydraulic hi perf lifters, and the car went .15 faster. I've never had a fast-ramp hydraulic cam go flat using good lifters if proper break-in is done.
Lars
Lars
Last edited by lars; Sep 15, 2019 at 03:02 PM.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
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From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Worked great for me of course they make some noise...think most complaints were from guys not reading instructions on how to set them.
Turned a big block with a lumpy (when cold) into what sounded like a pussycat at idle when warm
Was wondering if anyone had used their roller lifters or if they were even around anymore
Turned a big block with a lumpy (when cold) into what sounded like a pussycat at idle when warm
Was wondering if anyone had used their roller lifters or if they were even around anymore
Last edited by cv67; Sep 15, 2019 at 05:43 PM.
Dr. Detroit
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 10,097
Likes: 4,027
From: New Braunfels Texas
Flash in the pan technology.......have not seen a set in 15 years.
When I did work in my shop in Michigan......a guy with a 72 Camaro came to me and had a set. When I told him they were noisy by design, he balked and left. Two week slater he called and begged me to put a new cam and lifters in, which I did. It had a healthy hydraulic in it, so I put the same cam in...can't remember what it was. I do remember it was much quieter....and ran better overall.
Jebby
When I did work in my shop in Michigan......a guy with a 72 Camaro came to me and had a set. When I told him they were noisy by design, he balked and left. Two week slater he called and begged me to put a new cam and lifters in, which I did. It had a healthy hydraulic in it, so I put the same cam in...can't remember what it was. I do remember it was much quieter....and ran better overall.
Jebby
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,979
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From: Woodinville WA
There's some great old SpeedTalk posts from Mike Jones about the fact that it's not possible to have a lifter bleed down like this at low RPMs and then not have problems collapsing at high RPMs.
The promise is that they allow you to have your large cam "cake and eat it too" (keep your high RPM ability from your big duration cam, but still have decent low-end torque); if they collapse at high RPMS then all they do is turn your large cam into a smaller one.
Seem like a solution looking for a problem and that problem already has a good solution (just buy the right cam in the first place/ buy a new cam).
Quote from Mike Jones "CamKing" on Speedtalk:
"No. The std Rhoads lifters will hurt the top-end power, when compared to std hydr lifters. In circle track racing, to effectively run Rhoads lifters, we had to increase the duration by 8-12 degrees, to keep the engine from falling off too soon."
Now the Rhoads V-Max lifters are different, because you set them .020"(at the valve) from bottoming out. With the high bleed-down rate, this effectively makes the lifter act like a solid lifter with .020" lash."
https://www.speed-talk.com/forum/vie...=29745&start=0
Adam
The promise is that they allow you to have your large cam "cake and eat it too" (keep your high RPM ability from your big duration cam, but still have decent low-end torque); if they collapse at high RPMS then all they do is turn your large cam into a smaller one.
Seem like a solution looking for a problem and that problem already has a good solution (just buy the right cam in the first place/ buy a new cam).
Quote from Mike Jones "CamKing" on Speedtalk:
"No. The std Rhoads lifters will hurt the top-end power, when compared to std hydr lifters. In circle track racing, to effectively run Rhoads lifters, we had to increase the duration by 8-12 degrees, to keep the engine from falling off too soon."
Now the Rhoads V-Max lifters are different, because you set them .020"(at the valve) from bottoming out. With the high bleed-down rate, this effectively makes the lifter act like a solid lifter with .020" lash."
https://www.speed-talk.com/forum/vie...=29745&start=0
Adam
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 767
Likes: 74
From: Blaine MN
I used them many years ago in my SBC Jet Boat, they allowed me to run a lower idle speed with a higher duration Cam ( the engine is always loaded by the Pump), can't speak to the high rpm bleed down as 5100 was the peak of my power curve. I wouldn't bother today, a mild roller has more going for it than a slightly bigger FT imo.
