The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop '56 235 camshaft hydraulic or solid?

After spending much time and piecing together my 235 for swapping into a '54 half-ton I discovered I was sold 216 lifters. (DOH!) I should've been able to tell right away 'cuz boy they are different than the stock 235s. But...having never seen either before I was shnookered.
Now I'm trying to figure out whether to order the hydraulics or solid lifters for a 235 cam. The cam gear is composite so the camshaft must be for hydraulic lifters. How can one be sure whether their cam is for hyd or solid lifters and does it matter other than the gear? Are the lifters interchangeable to the cams? Did cam specs change depending on the type of lifters used? It seems there would be some differences for the changed lash. :confused: Thanks for any help.

More importantly is the block drilled for hyd lifters? When you had the block apart you may have noticed if down in the lifter bores if they were cross drilled? If not hyd cam won't work. Some blocks were drilled some not.

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, the lifter bores are cross-drilled with a fairly large gallery running through all twelve bores front to back. So I have a hydraulic block, and a composite cam gear which lead me to conclude that I need order hydraulic lifters. I did some basic online research and apprised myself of tech concepts like "lash ramp" on camshafts! If by some freak chance the cam I've got is for solid lifters (despite having the composite gear on it) will there be a problem mating hydraulic lifters to it? Will the lash ramp disrupt driving performance?

My advice would be to replace the composite gear with a new aluminum one. A bit noisier but a lot stronger. I believe that all 55' and newer 235 engines were cross drilled for hydraulic lifters whether equipped with them or not.

I just rebuilt mine and used hydraulics with the new cam because I don't like to listen to the clacking of solids unless it is a full out race engine. Also I intend to drive it a lot and don't want the bother of adjustment.

A hydraulic cam should have the same lift on intake and exhaust. You can tell nothing by the gear type. trucks are the only ones to use aluminum gears originally. I have used hyd lifters on solid cams a couple of times and they worked fine. Make sure you fill and bleed them first as per shop manual or you can trap air in lifter and end up with noisy lifters.

Thanks all for the input: you've answered my questions! Hydraulics it is.