Isky red zone lifters
 

I just had a set of Isky Red Zone lifters fail in my engine. The bearings on 2 of the lifters had failed completely and the remainder were in various stages of failure. I have less than 3k miles on the engine. The only thing that saved me from catastrophic loss was multiple oil changes due to unrelated work on the engine, 10 in all or 120 quarts of breakin and Royal Purple oil with 10 filters. It was not an oiling related failure. I also have a pre-oiler I use before starting the engine. Anyone have problems with this lifter?

Any of you guys using this lifter?

Never heard of them. Solid roller lifters? If so, sounds like lack of oil to the rollers. Bearings you say??

Isky red line solid roller lifters
 

Great! I just put a set in my 514 over the winter and am about ready to start the summer driving season. I pulled out my Crain lifters because they had over 14,000 miles on them which I thought was enough for one set of lifters. I also installed the Isky Endurance springs because the Comp Cams springs would only last about 7000 miles before the center springs would break. The Isky lifters are said to have the best oiling system on a solid roller, at least that is what they say. Please let me know what Isky says about your failure.

Red zone lifters....
 

Have ypu taken the issue with Ron Iskenderian? Perhaps if you sent the failed
lifters back to Iskenderian, they might be
able to shed some light on it such as the
lifters failing from oil starvation. Needless
to say, if your engine setup is providing
good pressure to the galleries, it may
not be providing sufficient oil to the lifter
bearings. Galliing of the needle bearing
roller assemblies would seem to be due
to insufficient lubrication, valve spring
pressure beyond what the lifters were
designed for, or excessive camshaft "walk" that could cause uneven loading
of the lifter rollers.

.....Fred

We are sending the lifters to Isky on Monday. Its not an oiling problem as the whole upper end (rockers, etc.) is fed oil thru the pushrods via the lifter and the rockers were getting plenty of oil. I've heard nothing but good about Isky red zone lifters. It's probably one of those "gosh this is the first time this ever happened" things which would be par for the course. Isky has a great reputation and I'm sure they will take care of this. My only concern was if anyone else had this problem.

I might be able to help...
 

I need to know:
type of block
oil mods
cam specs
valve lash on cam card
valve lash you are running (hot) (cold)
valve spring open and closed pressures
what kind of driving the engine has been subjected to

--Mike

I might be able to help...
 

I need to know:
type of block
oil mods
which valve train and push rods
cam specs
valve lash on cam card
valve lash you are running (hot) (cold)
valve spring open and closed pressures
what kind of driving the engine has been subjected to

--Mike

Al,do you have a hydraulic lifter block? chuck

Mike, Arias/Shelby aluminum 427 w/ Edelbrock MR heads, Scat billet stroker, 496 cu. in., TWM injection, Jessel roller rockers, K-motion valve springs (250 lbs @ base), Manton 3/8 chrome moly HD pushrods, Manley SS valves, Cam Motion custom ground cam (lift int. .64302 ext. .63235), valve lash int .025 ext .025, Speedpro HP/HV blueprinted oil pump, Isky Red Zone severe duty roller lifters. I use a pre-oiler prior to engine start to get oil pressure to 60 lbs. Engine hasn't been over 6800 rpm (MSD rev limiter) not babied and not abused. As I said before many oil and filter changes (10 in all) best oil. Set the valves 10 times in 3k miles. When I found excessive lash, took engine apart and found lifter problem. Seemed to happen all at once.

rollers
 

nm, .

Byots,
The cam specks are 254 int. and 258 exh duration @.050 with a .647 lift. The original springs were Comp Cams #953 dual with damper 185#@1.850 and 500# @ 1.225 open. I went with Isky Red Line lifters because they are built to handle 1000lbs or more of spring rate. The Isky endurance 9000 springs are 210lbs seat and 540lbs open with a install height of 1.900. I run the lash at .022 hot and have added a Jomar stud girdle for extra insurance. I just hope the Isky stuff holds up.

rollers
 

nm .

Al,
Sounds like you have a very nice engine that was well designed.
I can't find any fault in your part selection and the only suggestion I can offer is to attempt to tighten the valve lash as much as possible. .025" is a bit loose for a street car. The issue is when the roller lifter is on the heel of the cam, the lash allows the roller lifter wheel to stop rotating. Then, as the cam comes up on the ramp the roller wheel literally slams into the lobe
and slides a bit before it starts rolling again. This action imparts an extreme impact shock on the needle bearings in the lifter, causing premature failure. Setting the lash as tight as possible will keep the wheel in contact with the lobe for as long as possible and hopefully keep the wheel constantly spinning.
The Isky Red Zone is an excellent lifter and is pressure fed to the lifter bearings. Isky may have had some weird manufacturing problem that caused your lifters to fail. One other consideration, although not very likely is the possiblity that the Royal Purple synthetic oil is so slippery it is causing the rollers to not rotate on the heel of the cam but instead to slide untill the lobe smacks them again when the ramp starts to raise the lifter. I'm reaching now, but I can't find any other faults in your engine.
HTH,
--Mike

Thanks for your input guys! Now I just have to wait for Isky's verdict.