My luck with this car is getting to be so bad. It has seen maybe 16 total 1/8th mile passes, some dyno abuse, very little street abuse, and the rest has been putting around and it just has 44K on the clock. My stock valvsprings went bad last year and had to be replaced.

Anyway, should I just get stock GM lifters again or is there something better that I can use with the stock cam that's perhaps cheaper as well? Thanks. Is there anything else I should do while the intake is off (like a way to prevent the infamous rear leak from happening for eg, one thing that hasn't happened to me at least).

PS: If you have PN's handy that'd be extra great.

 

im pretty sure you only have two choices

comp R lifters, which are supposedly the best, and are just a little over $200 i think

or comp replacement lifters......better than stock, but not as good as the R's. theyre about $170.
here is a good deal on them i found

 

Well, if I ever do cam and heads I guess I will wind up getting new lifters all over again so for my application (<6,000 RPM) are the comp replacement lifters plenty good enough or does it just make sense to spend an extra $30.00 for the best?

Thanks for the info.

 

get the comp r's youll hardly do any damage to them with the stock cam and when you swap in a cam youll already have the comp r's and wont have to spend another 200+ on them.

 

There's nothing wrong with the stock lifters for most applications. You seldom hear of one failing. I wonder why your valve springs "went bad" and why the lifter failed?? It's always good to ask "why" before throwing more expensive parts into a motor.

Rich Krause

 

Rich, what are you getting at? The valvesprings were found to have too little seat pressure last year. This was discovered during dyno tuning as the power just dropped off at 5,000 for no apparent reason. The springs were replaced and while we were at it we figured we should go with the Crane Gold SA 1.6's. Once the new springs and lifters were in the car made 50 more RWHP at 5,500 RPM ....I doubt that's attibutable to going to a 1.6 ratio, it was the weak springs. So what should I be asking "why" to as to what else could be wrong? My mechanic has redone the lash on all of the rockers and the noise is still there and there is no apparent rocker damage. From his experience (a lot) he feels 99% sure it's a collapsed lifter. He's going to take everything apart before I order just to be sure.
How much extra work would it be to throw a cam in since we're already going this far? For that matter, how about the heads too? Wouldn't the only thing left be to take the headers loose and take the heads off? Oh my, I wasn't planning this but if we're already digging into it perhaps I should. As long as it's tuned right the heads/cam setup wouldn't be any harder on the pistons would they (maybe even easier due to lowered boost readings)? Of course with a big power increase there goes the stock clutch and rear too ....not ready for that kind of spending, maybe I'll just go with a really mild cam and leave the heads alone to keep the power at bay for awhile ~415 RWHP or so.

 

Sorry, I misunderstod and thought you had a valve spring failure. Two valvetrain failures would be an odd coincidence and I thought there would be a common problem to explain both.

Rich Krause

 

well, those numbers are w/ a powerdyne (3.4# pulley) on it? If so, doesn't that alone add a lot of stress on valvetrain? I would also be afraid for your crank/pistons if you change out the pulley. I know RSKrause could explain better but I have heard of people causing dmg w/ superchargers without extensive mods. I'd say get the comp r's and a blower cam! (if it is a blower that is)

 

Hmmm...

I have to ask the same questions Rich is asking here?

It is very rare to see a GM/Crane Roller lifter fail. I have been reving my stock lifters over 6,200 for 5 or 6 years now. I still have my stock 56k mile lifters. They have been on 5 cams now and hold up good enough for me to be shifting at 6,900.

Most here like Comp. I have not had the best luck with them in the past couple years. I have switched to Crane

 

lol...the 3.4" pulley is on my Buick Riviera L67. My Powerdyne has the stock 6 PSI pulley (2.93") with an ASP 6.45" crank pulley which only adds about 2 PSI max. I've decided against the cam. When I do it I want to do everything else with it (clutch, 12-bolt, pistons, heads, everything) ....someday when I hit the lottery.

So now I'm beginning to hear the Comp R's are no good ? Which Crane lifters should I get? (is Crane stock?)

 

OK guys, I have decided I am going with OEM lifters if I can find them for a good deal. Checked with dealership and they want $600.00 !!!!!!!!! .....how RIDICULOUS !!!! The reason I want to stay with OEM is to not risk affecting my dyno tuning because it is tuned in open loop only. Should I go with a lifter that has a different bleed rate I could affect the part throttle tuning (might run too rich and it's already running rich anyway). Anyway, I need a recommendation for a stock replacement lifter with stock bleed rate. If it's Crane or Comp that would be fine but has to be same as stock. I'm going to do some searching at GM websites and/or distributors. In the meantime if someone has a link please let me know....thanks. "got_hp"....thanks for your link. Do you know if they are the same bleed rate as stock. It says "performance version of stock lifter" ....that concerns me a bit that's all.

I am replacing all 16 lifters because it has been assumed that the valve float experienced on the many, many dyno runs it had last year was the culprit in weakening the lifters ....just took a year and a few thousand miles for one to finally let go. We don't know what else to attribute it to so it seems wise to replace all 16 especially if you have to buy all 16 anyway.

 

OK, I found Crane Hydraulic roller lifters, PN 270-10530-16 ("SB-Chevy OE 1987-99") $183.99 in Jegs. These are the stock lifters aren't they? Doubt I'll find a better deal so should I go with that?

 

Bought mine at autozone for about $8 each. That and the GM intake gaskets and a tube of rtv ran me around $200 to do the whole job. The Auto Zone lifters are Melling stock replacement lifters made in the U.S.A.