Hey again everyone, Unrelated to my current truck project in OT, but long story short I've just had a gen I (1971) small block chevy rebuilt for another project (cam ****on failed after about 5000 miles, cam walked forwards and ate into the timing cover, sent shrapnel through the mains, fun times). I'm getting ready to stick it back in the car. During the rebuild I decided to swap cams. I was previously running a retrofit solid roller and am now going to a retrofit hydraulic roller, the reasons for this are outside the scope of this question, but basically I plan to drive it/cruise with it more. I'm not really a fan of comp cams, but nevertheless chose one of their cams as it was the only one off the shelf with the specs I wanted to suit the rest of my setup. Per the ***le I'm completely new to hydraulic roller lifters and need some opinions. Should I run Comp lifters to match the Comp cam? Or go to Howards, Isky or Morel? I know opinions might be divided, I just want to hear people's first-hand experiences. Pic of the engine pre-rebuild for eye candy
Howards are my vote... I steer clear of all things Comp cam related these days. Ive been running Crower stuff lately with good results as well.
NOS ones or Howard’s and Crower seem to be used my a lot here. That’s where I was looking until I found some old stock ones
I'll look into them but I'm not sure if they offer the tie-bar style ones. Loved your 56 truck build btw, read through your entire thread when I first joined!
Howards usually sells their own brand manufactured in house. However, they sent me a set of roller lifters that were labeled as a set for sbc, but they were definitely for a BBC. They replaced them, no problem. My only experience with Howards. I would buy Morel.
Did some digging and managed to find that for the retrofit (tie-bar) style lifters specifically, the Isky ones are made by Johnson while the Howard ones are made by Morel. Did some more digging comparing those two and so far am leaning towards the Morel for my specific street application, though would probably choose the Johnsons if I was going for all out performance. Currently waiting for an e-mail back from Howards regarding some of their options.
Crower or Isky I think since you have already lost a cam witch required I'm ***uming a rebuild Do not look @ price go with best quality Even another $500 more , (1k plus) cheaper more likely then rebuild & time .Lose a roller just as much damage , I lost a lifter found needles up in cross drill holes of crank ,
A few weeks back I finally got a Pontiac started up on my test stand after a complete rebuild. The owner purchased a CompCams hydraulic roller cam and Howards hydraulic roller lifters. When I went to prime the engine, #6 intake would not oil the rocker arm, the other 15 did but it took a long time to get them to oil, 1/2" drill motor would make 70 psi pressure. I have built a lot Pontiac's, this one was the first with a roller cam. I've never had issues with rocker arm oiling. I pulled the intake and valley cover, swapped the lifter set to a different hole and still no oil out it. With the valley cover off and priming the oil pump, I noticed a lot of oil leaking out of the lifter bores around the lifters, didn't think too much about at the time. The lifters fit the bores OK, looser then a Crower that I normally use, but not sloppy loose. It took 4 weeks to get the lifter warrantied. The replaced oiled like it should. I started the motor, it fired right off, oil pressure 70 psi with 30w break-in oil. Once the heat started coming up, the pressure started dropping, at 190* the oil pressure was down to 40 psi and fluctuating. The gauge was bouncing 10 psi, it looked more like a vacuum gauge on an engine with a stuck valve then an oil pressure gauge. All the oil leaking out the lifter bores was causing the pressure readings to fluctuate. The owner was still happy with it, it sounded good. I would have put Crower's or Johnson's in it, replacing the Howards. As the lifters ran up and down the bores, they leaked oil past them causing the fluctuation. I also noticed that the pressure would bleed off as soon as the engine shut off. I went to check the lifter adjustment while hot, and all of the had no pressure left in them, I could push each rocker arm down with my fingers. It was quiet at start up.
I have been using Summit hydraulic rollers, they are actually made by Morell . I have had 0 issues with them , also considerably less pricey than Isky lifters that are made by Johnson.
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