Once upon a time, most car engines used solid or mechanical lifters. But unlike most fairy tales that begin that way, there was no lasting happy ending for them. Hydraulic lifters first appeared in ...

Without a doubt, solid cams carry a certain mystique. In the musclecar days, solids were factory-fitted in some of the hottest iron out of Motown, including the early street Hemi. There was a little ...

Sorry, solid lifters, you make a wonderful typewriter clack and allow for intoxicatingly high rpms, but you can't be surprised that manufacturers slowly moved to ...

The rules in some racing classes restrict competitors to running hydraulic valve lifters. Cheaters have been known to run hydraulic lifters on a mechanical (solid) cam profile. Solid cam profiles ...

The engines of yesteryear were pretty simple, with tappets clackity-clacking away on cam lobes, opening valves, and making a ruckus while doing it. Mechanical lifters were adequate for valve operation ...