The trick to checking a cam is monitoring the rate of lift, which requires a degree wheel mounted to the crankshaft and synchronized to top dead center of the piston. A solid lifter cam has a fairly long area of gradual lift at the beginning of the lobe to slowly take up the clearance before beginning the valve lift. This minimizes the shock effect of transitioning from the round base circle of the cam lobe to the part of the lobe that actually lifts the valve. On closing, there's also an area which slows the valve down before it contacts the seat to keep it from battering the seat, then the clearance is slowly re-established. Hydraulic cams have a radically different lobe profile because the lifter stays in contact with the cam all the time.
If you decide to purchase a cam you know is for solid lifters, the Elgin E-293S cam that we put into John's 261 is the same grind as the "Corvette" 6-cylinder solid lifter cam. It cost around $115.00 from my engine parts supplier in Nashville. It's currently in production by Elgin Industries and it's somewhat less expensive than the same cam that offered for sale by some of the resto-ripoff guys. A new cam also requires new lifters, BTW.
There's a set of new milk can lifters on Ebay today for $187.00, but better pricing is probably available with some careful shopping.
http://catalog.elginind.com/elgin/Jerry
