When to change roller lifter in FE?

[priobe]

Hello All,

It was brought to my attention that these roller lifters dont last too long in these motors.
So....

My solid roller lifters were made by Cammotion, put in my FE in 427, I've got about 2000 miles on the engine, and my cam specs are 242 /242 , .650 112LSA. When do you all think I should change out my lifters?

[FWB]

Originally Posted by priobe

Hello All,

It was brought to my attention that these roller lifters dont last too long in these motors.
So....

My solid roller lifters were made by Cammotion, put in my FE in 427, I've got about 2000 miles on the engine, and my cam specs are 242 /242 , .650 112LSA. When do you all think I should change out my lifters?

Oh Boy, now thats a heated question.......depends......pressure feed oiling?
do you idle alot? spring pressure is also a factor. did cammotion actually make them? or are they someone elses re-boxed?

i got 6500 miles and a roller let go....some people get more.....some people get less....mine were comp cams.......i'm not sure who's i will put back in.
torn between Crower(needle bearing) and isky(bushed not needle bearing)

[blykins]

What are the rest of the cam specs, which lifters are you running, and how much spring pressure are you running?

On a "street roller" grind, with moderate spring pressure, and pressure fed lifters, you can expect about 7500-10000 miles on a set.

[Jeff Frigo]

Simple, when there is excessive play in the roller. Not trying to be smart, just pull them out and inspect them, better save than sorry.

[priobe]

so basically every 2 - 3 oil change , change lifters

[Jerry Clayton]

Basically-----no

Do you have oil galleys to the lifters? some FE blocks do , some don't--

If you have oil pressure to them , they will go over 100,000 miles

If you don't have oil galleys to them, you might consider doing it---I used to make up a couple of tubes down the lifter valley and run dash 3 lines across to the opposite side to a hole I drilled into the lifter bosses--- worked super with no problems--

These days you can get lifters with a pressure feed to the roller

[priobe]

Jerry,

DO you have any pictures?

[FWB]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

Basically-----no

Do you have oil galleys to the lifters? some FE blocks do , some don't--

If you have oil pressure to them , they will go over 100,000 miles

Jerry, you may be mistaken there, the question was for solid mechanical roller
not hydraulic.

a solid roller will never,ever........ever......did i mention ever....remotely even come close to 100k. regardless of how its oiled in a FE engine.

that is according to ALL lifter manufacturers. ALL....


so two oil changes will put you at 6000 to 7000 miles.....yes that would be about lifter changing time. or run the gauntlet and risk the whole motor.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by FWB

...a solid roller will never, ever........ever......did i mention ever....remotely even come close to 100k, regardless of how it's oiled in a FE engine.

OK, so I read that to say maybe it will hit a 100k?

[FWB]

i guess i wasn't clear.....

[Jerry Clayton]

The issue isn't about solid rollers---its about lubercation--- with the new roller lifters that are pressure fed to the rollers, they will go as far as anything in the engine--issue with the FEs are that most of the early or hp blocks don't have lifter oil gallies so with out the side clearance and squirter oil holes in the rods, the cam and lifters don't get enough SPLASH type oiling and to further complicate things, every body wants to restrict the oil to the top end which then eliminates most of the drain back that was designed OEM to drip oil back onto the lifters.

I don't have any pics of the system I built because it was back in the late 60s ---I basicly put two 1/2 tubes down in the lifter galley with -3 lines across to the opposite side into a hole in the lifter boss--inside the lifter bore I had ground a small groove to feed oil to the groove of the lifter---The two tubes were plumbed into the cross over feed toward the rear of the center galley

[patrickt]

... or just go SFT.