SBC question for the experts..... I have a 1987 5.7L SBC with a factory roller cam.....Can I buy any roller cam (say a CROWER) and still retain the GM roller lifters?? Thanks
in theory you can. The hyd roller lifters dont wear like a solid or hydraulic would. It all depends on the age and condition of the lifters. If they are in good shape and you have to use them... then you should be fine.
Yes you can, but make sure you order the cam for an 87'-up factory roller application. The nose of the cam will be stepped to allow you to use the factory cam retainer on the front of the block. There are a bunch of different combinations you can go with, but I have found this to be the easiest route to go that utilizes the majority of the factory parts like the lifters, retainers, etc. I like the '87-up blocks for my daily drivers because of the 1-piece real seal, factory roller cam, and the early blocks still have the boss for a mechanical fuel pump. You can find them dirt cheap, too.
I did it with my wife's 2.5/151 S 10 engine. It worked as far as I know. However I always had that lingering feeling that i should have put new ones in. It lasted about 90K before the bottom end started hammering away.
Yes you can-I have a '96 block-put in a new zz4 cam with stock stamped rockers,stock roller lifters and LT4 springs-no problems when done right.
those take out zz4 cams can be had cheap usually, ad some 1.6 roller tip rockers if you want a lil more lift . I used a SpeedPro cam in my El Camino. I think they called it an RV II cam, been a while but it runs well down the hwy with alil rumble at stops . I used the factory lifters w/ no issues
Thanks for the input...Engine already has Comp Cams roller rockers...If all I need to invest in a decent cam and timing chain kit that would make my day!!!
Brandon is right! That also means the normal lock plate for the cam from Comp or Moroso don't work. I'm sure someone makes one for the hyd roller now.
Been checking into cams...lots of manufacturers seem to be making roller cams to be used in the 350 roller engine blocks...Looks like this style GM block requires a cam that has a "step" machined into the end of the cam so it can use the existing GM retaining plate for the cam. I have an early block that has the fuel pump boss machined (engine actualy had a mechanical pump on it). Thanks for the info on the timing chain!!! How about the oil pump??? Is it special because of the one piece rear main seal??? I know oil pans are special...just not sure what else is!!! Thanks again for all the input!!
takes a standard SBC oil pump and shaft. Something I ran into... the crank also has a smaller bolt pattern on it. I bought ARP bolts to put the flexplate on. The heads of the bolts were too big and hit the crank as it came through the flexplate. You need special smaller head flexplate/flywheel bolts if you planned on changing them. ARP makes them.
I have a complete GM Hot cam kit with new lifters and a true roller chain. If interested pm me $300 plus shipping. The cam and roller rockers are over $500 from GM
Shifty has the right deal, the Hot cam from GM is a good one for the street. Proven to perk up the ZZ4 and like engines. Now, when you change it put a new water pump on at the same time because when it leaks, and it will leak, it messes up the distributor (really dumb re-engineering on GM's part). I made the mistake a couple times on my Impala SS and had to replace the Opti spark.
Umm, the OP is using an '87 model. No optispark on a waterpump/cam drive. You're talking about the Gen II LT1/LT4. The Gen I motors still have a conventional waterpump and distributor.
Just something I want to point out regarding '87 and up blocks. I removed a 305 from an '87 Monte SS (carbed). It had the "stumps" in the lifter valley for the "spider" (although they were not drilled and tapped) and had the provision for the cam retainer plate (the holes in this case were drilled and tapped) but the engine came with a flat-tappet cam and lifters. Looked to be an easy conversion to roller using factory parts (and according to one of the "big" magazines, it would be an easy upgrade ... "Just lift the intake and if you see the three stumps you can easily covert from flat-tappet to factory roller cam"). Turns out my block had "stepped" lifter bores (the magazine article did not mention this possibility), by "stepped lifter bores" I mean that the top 1/4" of the bore was a larger diameter than the rest of the bore. This meant that when a cam lobe was at max lift (even on a stock cam) the oiling hole in the lifter was protruding above the lifter bore and spewing oil all around the underside of my intake manifold and therefore not feeding the lifters near the front of the engine. There is an old post on here about my issues that also includes some pics of the lifter bores. Basically what I am saying is IF the engine was set up from the factory with a roller cam then you will be OK, but be careful if you are intending to convert an '87 and up flat-tappet block over to factory roller cam stuff ... seems some blocks have the correct lifter bores and some have the stepped lifter bores. I wasted a lot of time and money on the "stepped" block (I now have a '95 350 that is a true roller block). I realize that the original poster does have the roller block, I just wanted to point this info out incase someone is considering converting an '87 and up flat-tappet to roller (using factory parts).
The hot cam is a .492/.492 lift cam with duration of 279/287 and 218/228 @50 lobe seperation is 112* You may find it listed as a .525 lift but that is where it specs with 1.6 rockers. The .492 is with 1.5 rockers.
This screwed up stepped lifter bore screwed me as well. Someone told me to use 4.3 V6 lifters to correct the problem. The cam and lifters are the only thing slowing my build.
******* ... I was also told about using the V6 roller lifters (being that they are shorter). The problem I saw with using them is with the lifter being so short, the factory "dogbone" lifter aligner would not work because the lifter did not stick out above the top of the lifter bore. The roller lifters need to be kept from turning. You could (possibly) grind/machine a rather large chunk of the block away (basically the "step" of the lifter bore) but I decided against doing that. I ended up finding a complete '95 350 that was not roller but also did not have the stepped lifters and got it for $100. As for the "stepped" block ... I s****ped it.
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