Rhoads lifters

[eventhorizon66]

I was just curious if anyone here has any experience with these lifters.  I know about the ticking noise they make, but do they work, are they durable, do they cause valvetrain problems, etc.?

Based on what I've read, I could slide an XE268 cam, for example, in my stock 8.5:1 motor and it would behave like an RV cam at low engine speeds, slowly reaching its full profile at about 3500 rpm.  Seems like a cool idea, at any rate.

[Captkaos]

Not worth the money in my opinion, especially on a 268 cam.

[Blue 82]

I ran variable bleed lifters in the 80's
It's been so long I forgot who made them but they did not make as much noise as the Rhodes (I think they were made by Crane). I was running a hydraulic with duration in the 240's @.050" in a 3200lb 4 speed car.
They were OK; but with todays lobe profiles, I really don't think you need them, especially with durations in the under 220* @ .050"

The 268 is an OK grind, but why not go with something from the XE series if you are looking for an off the shelf cam?
I switched from a 270 magnum to an XE256, pocket ported the heads and was happy with the results till I lost an intake lobe after 40,000 miles. (probably to the reduction in ZDDP levels in motor oil).

I called a little cam company on Georgia, Reed Cams and they custom ground a cam for my application. Even though the specs are very close to the XE256 (within 1 degree @ .050") the truck runs better and gets better economy by roughly 1 mpg.

The price for the custom cam and lifters was about the same as a Comp Cam/lifter set. ($200 delivered)

http://www.reedcams.com/

I filled out the vehicle spec sheet,
told em what I wanted to do with it,
Placed the order on a Monday morning,
Got it Thursay afternoon....

http://www.reedcams.com/camform.htm

[eventhorizon66]

Well I'm not going to do anything to the engine for a while.  But I can see that the stock goodwrench motor isn't going to satisfy me for very long.  In fact, I've already gotten pretty bored with it.

I was just curious what people thought about the Rhoads lifters in general.

Some day when it's not my daily anymore, I'll pocket port the heads, switch to a thinner head gasket, and run either an XE262 or XE268 cam.  Maybe I'll slap a small blower on and beat on it until I burn holes in the pistons.  Man I should have swapped in an LQ9 when I had the chance.