Roller Cam vs Flat Tappet Cam - Summit Racing 101

Dave takes a quick dive into the basics of camshafts and their lifters, specifically the roller camshaft lifter and the flat tappet camshaft lifter. Dave discusses the primary differences in the two main designs and talks about the benefits of the roller as well as flat tappet design.

[geraldscott]

Ok, I know this is an old video, but I saw a couple of comments from less than a year ago. What this guy failed to mention is that flat tappet cam lobes have a taper ground into them (or at least they are supposed to) It should be at least .003 in. The end of the lifter that goes against the cam must have a crown on it, meaning it is higher in the center. If you put the lifter on a completely flat surface, like glass, it will rock from side to side a little. This taper of the cam lobes and crown on the lifters causes the lifters to spin in the bore when the engine is running. If this doesn't happen, both the cam lobe and the lifter will wear down very quickly. There has been an epidemic of bad cams and lifters lately, made by many different companies, that do not have taper machined into the cam lobes and a crown machined into the lifter, causing them to fail very quickly. I have no idea what has caused this, cams and lifters have been designed and machined like that forever, but something has changed. If you buy a new cam and lifters from ANY company, before installing them, CHECK the taper of the cam lobes and the crown of the lifters. If they don't have the taper and crown, DON'T install them. Not only will the cam and lifters destroy themselves very quickly, but they will leave metal shavings inside your engine. Just because they are called flat tappet cams doesn't mean they are perfectly flat. If you get some that are, return them immediately, BEFORE installing them.

[nos]

this video is also missing a lot of detail as well. such as you need to run certain oils with a flat tappet cam set up and you more than likely need shorter push rods with a roller set up. also you need to make sure the roller lifter do not spin on the cam. you will also need to control cam shaft end play on a roller cam by either a cam plate or cam button. all this is why a fat tappet cam is $300 vs a roller cam is around $800 for a similar grind.

[kylesenior]

Great explanation, not a 24 minute video on a bunch of other random shit

[Myvintageiron]

The only benefit a flat tappet offers is cost the roller is better in every other area 

[yamahaguy]

I bought an engine from blueprint engines was supposed to come with a flat tapper cam and they upgraded me to a roller cam so that’s was nice

[dboser]

Dave,

Can you advise whether the break in procedure is different for the roller cam versus the flat bottom tapet cam?

[jawojnicki]

do you have a video on traditional vs overhead camshafts, adv and disadv? could you post a link to it please?
thanks

[JH-tkge]

Basically if your dropping a snot ton of money into a rebuild, go with rollers. if you're just doing a mild cam and basic upgrades, go tappet.

[Joekool]

Awsome!! Thank you for that information.

[sam]

nice that explains the difference between the push rod roller curious are those the only 2 based types on the market or made currently or is there any others like maybe ball bearing bottom based or something totally different

[johnbehneman]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. GREAT VIDEO AND EDUCATION. THANKS FOR SHARING. I LEARNED SO MUCH.

[titoocasio]

I have a 93 5.7 rebuild block that came with a Camaro I bought it has the cam in it and it seems well worked on but I didn’t get lifters with it how can I tell if it’s a roller cam or a tapped cam?

[jawmedia]

reduced friction. that's what I like. Roller is the way. Altho NASCAR ran flat tappet until this year. did u know that?

[filitamayo]

Is there a kit that you can switch over to roller ., cam rollers, cam bearings head gasket and pushrods. I know theres a kit to convert from flat to roller . Is there a kit that comes with everything mentioned .

[solarsynapse]

Questions: Why can't the flat tappet be rounded? What is the best off-the-shelf oil for old flat tappet engines? Is an additive the only choice to have enough ZDDP?

[barrykilts]

David Vizard is someone I pay attention to when he speaks and I looked to see what he had to say, , , he said rollers don’t get better results than flat tappet until the flat tappet runs out of gas.on the street where do you suppose that is?

[strattuner]

roller cams require higher{much] valve spring pressures, this alone makes me run flat tappet cams, even at that rate, always run the lowest spring pressure you need, added friction on a street engine is just asking for premature damage to keeper, guides, valve recession added load to the chain or gears driving the cam, fortunately this infomercial for SUMMIT does not hurt their sales  and is purely informative, stop and go grocery getter needs the mildest cam you can use for cylinder pressure, use zinc oils in everything including your lawnmower, if you run a gm motor-use cam buttons wherever possible, and loosen lifter to block clearance whenever its apart, starting doing this and I found that dynamite is not needed anymore for lifter extraction

[sixkobstahoe]

Thank you very good explaining but will ls7 rollers fit a 99 sbc vortec if i install a lt4 hot cam

[austinbonatz]

With the new rules in Nascar regarding the change from flat to roller tappet cam, what will be the new research and development. What do you think the engineers and engine builders will do to push the limits and gain an advantage over the competition? What will be the biggest challenge when adapting?

[woodygreen]

What is the best type of oil to breakin a full roller engine sbc roller cam lifters and rocker's on first fire up?