This weekend I dusted off the Camaro to go cruising and for some routine maintenance.
It seems like everyone I run into that runs a hydraulic camshaft does so because of the fear of the solid cams adjustment. The fundamental difference between hydraulic and solid lifter camshafts is solid lifters maintain a constant height and an adjustment is made to give the proper clearance in the valvetrain. Hydraulic lifters' height is given by the oil in the engine. This fluid volume is self adjusting in a way so once the engine is assembled, you don't need to change anything.
It's a myth that you need to adjust solid lifters often. I've heard of people checking them every couple thousand miles. This seems excessive to me. After a couple trackdays, lots of street miles, and two years time, I checked my valves. They were not more than .001-inch off and that much I can blame on my inconsistency when setting them initially. Also it's a hot lash cam so I have to bring the engine up to operating temperature before adjusting and as the engine cools the lash will change.
The point of this blog is to incouage you to experiment with a solid cam, they aren't as high maintanance as you think and they can rev as high as your valve springs will allow!