hydraulic and solid cams!

[mr j-man]

hey!

i am just tryin to work out the difference in hydralic and solid cams.
i previously had a crane solid 280-2 cam in my 308 that my brother owned and had built for him but then eventually sold it to me (which i no longer own) were not on speaking terms to ask him the question about which im goin to ask.

the 308 ran the 280-2 solid, flat tops, hi comp around 10.5 to 11, adjustable YT rockers, solid lifters, performer d/pln manfld, 650dp hlly, 4thou stall ....ect it had an idle that would give any revhed a wood and was fu@kin great round the 4-5g rpm.

now im looking at fitting up a cam kit to the 5.0 and not sure which way to swing solid or hyd! the solid id choose would be the crane solid 280-2 again and/or the hyd would be the 284 crane!
i know the solid cam setup will cost alot more to get going than the hyd as the banana manfld will need to be replaced.

so what im wanting to know is some of the pros and cons of the above 2 types mechanically and how/what would be req to run either....... as this decision is becoming harder to make on my own!

SOLID SETUP HOLDEN V8 308 304 5.0 EFI CRANE SOLID CAM PACKAGE | eBay

HYD SETUP HOLDEN V8 308 304 5.0 EFI CRANE HYDRAULIC CAM PACKAGE | eBay
thanks guys!

[GRPABT1]

Firstly, how far do you want to go with this build? That is, do you have the money for new pistons and a full rebuild at the very least? Or do you want to just fit a new cam and that's it? Because basically that is the deciding factor between the two cam's you have chosen. The hyd will work well enough in your otherwise stock motor and give a nice broad power band while the solid really does require alot more parts and effort to make work.

You see in the cam description where they say the rev range and the compression etc? Well a stock 304 has about 8.5:1 compression (a little higher on the VT models) and really won't work well with a large solid cam. So there's new pistons straight up, and while doing that you might aswell do a full rebuild. And then once it's all back together you'll realize the bunch of banana's is choking the engine before that cam even really gets to work it's magic, so there's a new single plain intake and and throttle body. Then once it's revving like it should you'll need bigger injectors at the very least to keep the fuel up to it. And once it's all said and done you'll wish you had the heads ported and bigger valves installed to make it really work to it's full potential (gotta have them machined for the springs anyway most likely). With that solid cam you might get 450-480ish HP if you do it all. I trust you know how angry cammed up motors behave having owned one before? But if not it will be a bit of a pig, especially being flat tappet. And then when it's all said and done there is the issue of longevity, the motor is only as good as the sum of it's parts so standard rods, cheap pistons and bearings etc + big revs and increased Hp will only last so long.

Which brings me to my second issue, solid flat tappet cams. This really is dinosaur tech we are talking here and the days of flat tappet motors are long gone and any performance motor built with them is living on borrowed time basically. The problem is somewhat in the oil, modern oils do not had some of the extreme pressure additives that older oils had due to them being removed to please the greenies. Therefore a solid flat tappet cam really does cop a hiding unless running with some EP additive in the oil but even then they are likely to not last a lifetime before wiping off a cam lobe or two and potentially lunching the whole motor. The answer is solid roller, for an extra expense of about $1000 you can have the piece of mind knowing that your cam is not potentially grinding itself away each time you drive and also pick up a little better driveability which is just inherent in the nature of roller cam profiles. My solid roller has done about 10000km's and a few drag racing meets among other decent hidings it cops and I just adjusted the rockers for valves lash for the first time, the worst one was only 4 though out which is #### all. A solid flat tappet will require adjustment about every 5000km or after every decent race meet or risk damaging the cam even earlier.

So in short, to really do it right the solid will cost you alot more money and effort to do it properly compared to the hydraulic which would work pretty well on an otherwise stock engine. But don't let that deter you, if you have the means and the effort then a solid cam is bloody awesome and no hydraulic can even come close to matching the power of a well sorted solid cammed motor.

Which brings me to my final point, off the shelf cams. Basically they are a comprimise at a sacrifice of power. Any decent engine builder worth their crust will know that for the relatively small extra outlay a custom cam is the way to go. Surecam, Camtech, Auscam and the like can all grind a custom cam to perfectly suit your engines compression, cylinder head flow, cubes, manifold choice and particular application desired. You will make more power with better driveability with a custom cam every time. This is why serious engine builders often like to keep cam specs a secret, it is a fine art with alot of factors determining exactly what is the best camshaft for a motor.

So, I hope that helps. Go now and ponder the complexities of life and decide what you want from your motor and then decide on a cam.

[mr j-man]

its all pretty much gona be a "want versus money" situation

[DANNY8]

Got any vids of the 308 with the F280? I'm using that cam in my 308 but she's a few months off starting and would love to hear wat she would sound like!

[mr j-man]

Got any vids of the 308 with the F280? I'm using that cam in my 308 but she's a few months off starting and would love to hear wat she would sound like!

unfortunately not! i wish i had a couple of vids frying the tyres with the old 308! you wont be dissapointed with that cam as long as its all matched to suit...highly reccomended.....im somewhat kickin myself for sellin the 308. whats your set up your building dan?

[DANNY8]

Ah that's good mate, it owes me a fair whack so lets hope it goes alright haha.

It's just a standard stroke 308, all 8 pots resleeved and taken out to 30thou, torque plate honed, A9L rods, forged pistons, crank reground, mains tunnel line honed, all balanced up, block decked, stock VN heads, torque power single plane hi rise manifold, 750dp holley, crane f280 solid cam, crane lifters, crow pushrods and guide plates, crane roller rockers, crane springs, retainers and collets....more goodies but that's roughly it lol.

Should go alright, aiming for 250rwkw. But as long as it holds top gear skids with ease I'll be happy!

[GRPABT1]

Sounds like a good little motor mate.

[mr j-man]

lovin the sound of that danny, should be a ball tearer! what does regrinding the crank do??

[DANNY8]

Nothing for performance....the mains and big ends have been ground 10thou each coz they had a few light marks in them.