Had the ZZ409 in my 396 and now going with a custom CC cam from MTI.
Never made the power that I expected with the ZZ409. Never tried the solid roller set up. Obviously, it has produced some good results on alot of stroker set ups. From my perspective, it boils down to how you view your car. If you want a set up that is for the street (5000+ miles yearly) and can run well at the track, the hyd cam seems the way to go. If you trailer your car most of the time and want to achieve the best possible ET, go with the solid roller. Most of the guys that have gone this route seem to knock off another .2 over the hyd cam.

 

Hey Red Rocket,

That's a pretty car you got there! How does it idle with the ZZ409? What RPM did you shift at for best performance? Did you degree it? Will you be selling the ZZ409 sometime soon? Will your new cam a solid?

Geez, sorry for all the questions!!!

 

For crying out loud, Denny, you don't NEED no stinkin' solid roller if your doing 10.82 @133mph?!!! What cam did you settle on, then?

 

Going with a cam similar to Vette 92 which is a Hyd 230/238. The ZZ409 idled almost like stock in my 396. Shifted at 6200 RPM's at the track.

 

hey denny what power adder is on that vette nos,blower or turbo with that mph its on something

 

I went from the 219 cam to the comp extreme solid roller 236-242. I did not see much of a track gain 1/10th. After dist gear issues and then solving them I purchased a new comp extreme solid roller 248/248. Actually it was the next size up 242/248 but I had comp copy the exhaust lobe profile to the intake. Now here I can say there was a performance increase. I went from a best of 11.6x to a best of 11.32 and consistent 11.4's. I am running the comp basic 818-16 solid roller lifters(the popular ones addvertised in summit). I am running a comp sring with pressures about 180# seat and 470# open. Lift is close to 630 with 1.65 RR's.
At the track I shiuft close to 7000 but have hit 7300 playing on the street.
Its been about 2 years now running the solid and so far love its performance.
Dennis

 

Bowtye

Would you happen to know your spring part# and your install height?

Thanks

KM

 

Denny,
you've hit on what I mean by matching parts up.
spring's need to match: overall lift, type of lifter and rocker (weight issue there), and max RPM the motor will see.
cam company's should be able to suggest correct springs and seat pressure's (it 's a good idea to let them know exactly what parts you have and how high you plan to spin it).
there isn't any need to have spring pressure's capable of 7500rpm if your only going to 6500-6800rpm.
And it doesn't end with the valvetrain, the whole engine needs to be built towards the goal, things like oil restrictor's and oil pump pressure can play an important part on longevity. now I'm no expert on those things (I had to trust the shop that did my machining to chose the restrictor size) but I know you don't want to overkill or under build these areas.
I've also read on here that the type of motor oil used can effect wear on solid roller setups
(it was in the engine mod's section. and someone said that mobile1 wasn't a good oil for solid rollers because it doesn't have a high pressure ingredient "zinc"?).

personally I don't want to take mine to 7200rpm, it would be hard to tune injectors that would handle that rpm and still be lean enough at idle. beside's mine should make peak power around 5800 - 6200 rpm so the shift point would only be 6200 - 6600rpm (no need to go higher if there's no power up there).

Denny, that cam you had in your's sounds big (.650" - .680" lift), thats into "racing spring" territory (at least its beyond what TPIS's spring can handle). you must have had something close to 500lbs open pressure just to run them at 7000rpm and thats asking alot of a spring.

of course this stuff is just my opinion. I highly recommend talking to the people that build and run them for a living (not just a sales rep)


[Modified by ol,RJ, 4:11 AM 10/16/2002]

 

Km,
I am currently on the road for buisness. When I get back in town I will post the info.
Dennis


Denny M, Have not seen you in a while. Good to have you back :cool:

 

Hey guys -

Lots of useful info in this thread - thank you! Because my car is a daily-driven car, only seeing track time 1-2 times/month, I think I'm back to the hyd. roller side of the fence. Think I'll go with something a little bigger than ZZ409, though (226/226).... maybe ZZ-9X (225/240 554/580).

 

Denny, I'm not suprised the driveablity was poor.
I own a 1970 LT-1 (solid flat tappet from the factory) its not the easiest thing to drive every day but doable.
I think the TPIS #700-701 cam is on the edge of driveablity for my 406ci motor (very simular to the old LT-1) personally I wouldn't go any bigger than that for street use (jmho).
I could put bigger heads on and make even more power, but it would gain mostly in the upper rpm's only. and I kinda like the idea of staying around 500 fwhp just so it easier on the drivetrain.

 

ELEVENS?! Hey, I know that car! :seeya Bill, welcome aboard!

 

Hey! Thanks for putin' out the welcome mat for me. I can't believe it took this long to stumble onto this forum - it's the best!

Just ordered a new cam, ZZ409, 226/226, .556/.556 w/ 1.6 rockers. Terry @ TPiS said it should be good for about 30HP more than the 219 cam. Guess I'm gonna be getting a little dirty this weekend.... :)

 

Some guys have all the fun! :cheers: