Roller lifters... the finer points

[curtis73]

I've come to a point where I just gosh-darn want roller lifters. I know there are retrofit rollers available for a huge cost, but couldn't a machinist re-machine/sleeve the lifter bores for whatever stock lifters you wanted? I know there would be oil passage issues involved, but if you were willing to put up with solid lifters wouldn't it be pretty easy?

Thoughts on engineering such a setup would be appreciated. I'm a little slim on the finer points of lifter tech.

[k10caddy]

if you want roller lifters then you'd all need a roller cam, too. As of right now only one person, that I'm aware of, is making roller cams - somehwere around a $1k each the last I looked - that does require machining of the block.

There are some retro-fit roller lifters are a supposed to be a direct fit with no machining required. iirc, cad/chevy/other gm share the same lifter specs. the oil holes would seem to matter more if it was a hydraulic roller than a solid roller setup.

[Terrible One]

Yep, $1050 8)

[curtis73]

I wonder why? You can call Comp and browse their catalog of lobes. You can request lobe profile #4217 for intake and #4344 for exhaust, and tell them to grind it on a 112 displacement and a 110 center for a Cadillac. They make caddy cams so they have the files for CNC, its just a matter of specifying a roller lobe in the ramp and lift of your choice and they grind it from a billet blank instead of cast iron. Custom cams over there are about $300, a touch more for billet; my guy said about $350-400

I guess me question is a bit more general than specific to caddy, but I assumed that you guys would have more likely solved some of these issues since rollers aren't in the cards for us.

I guess what I'm thinking is; might it be less expensive to machine the lifter bores and sleeve them for the hyd rollers of your choice? You may have to make a groove on the outside of the sleeve to match the oil passage and a hole inside the sleeve in the right place for the new lifters, but is there a strength or reliability issue with that? I have a block, and a machinist with a shop, but he's not a car guy. He's been a contractor for a liquid transfer company making valve housings. I'm quite confident that he could make exactly what I need, but I can't rely on him to tell me if what I'm doing will work since he's not a car guy.

I guess what I'm thinking is that its so much cheaper to get stock hyd rollers than it is the retrofit.

[STDog]

I wonder why? You can call Comp and browse their catalog of lobes. You can request lobe profile #4217 for intake and #4344 for exhaust, and tell them to grind it on a 112 displacement and a 110 center for a Cadillac. They make caddy cams so they have the files for CNC, its just a matter of specifying a roller lobe in the ramp and lift of your choice and they grind it from a billet blank instead of cast iron. Custom cams over there are about $300, a touch more for billet; my guy said about $350-400

I think that's the big journal cam, 52 mm journals :!:

For hyd. lifters, you need the cam, lifters, and proper pushrods. The lifter bores are shared with other lifters. 0.842" dia.
BUICK 62-86 V-6, 196 THRU 252
BUICK 64-80 V-8, 300 THRU 350
CADILLAC 68-81 V-8, 368 THRU 500
OLDSMOBILE 64-84 V-8, 260 THRU 455
PONTIAC 77-89 I-4, 151 (2.5L)
ROVER 68-00 V-8, 215 (3.5L)-240 (3.9L)-4.2L
All use the same lifters (example Crane #99284)

So Crane #28532 should work.
OLDSMOBILE V-8 64-84, 260-307 (5.0L)-330-350 (5.7L)-400-403-425-455 CU.IN.
PONTIAC V-8 55-81, 265 (4.3L)-287-301 (4.9L)-316-326-347-350-370-389-400 (6.6L)-421-428-455 CU.IN.
Vertical locking bar design for .842" diameter lifter bores.

Im sure others make lifters the those engines. The trick is the locking bar. Clearance for it. I'd get a pair and check. You'll need shorter push rods too.

[STDog]

Im sure others make lifters the those engines. The trick is the locking bar. Clearance for it. I'd get a pair and check. You'll need shorter push rods too.

In the thread on CB7, somone said you need a different tie bar than normally comes with the lifters. Not sure of the dtails.

Al, any thought on hyd roller setups?

[DaveM]

I have a hyd. roller cam... I had it made by one vendor and the lifters and pushrods made by another... I did not have to do any machining of the block, but boring it for a larger cam diameter will make it stronger..the cam lifters and pushrods were almost $2000 ...now you have to think about your valve springs.. they have to be stiff for that aggresive roller lobes.. with those stiff springs make sure your rockers don't break...