Hey guys just wanted to know how everyone felt about the roller conversions. I was looking at compacts linked roller lifter conversions and herd some people saying bad things about them. Ordinarily I’d build a roller motor with a roller block but the engine in my 67 cougar looks like it was recently rebuilt. I want to put a nice hydrology roller can in it and make it my daily with some nice bolt ons but wanted to know if the comp cams linked roller lifters were garbage or good for daily use. Also if there are other good options
Even though I currently run a comp cam, I actually prefer Lunati hydraulic roller cams. 72335-16 is the number for their hydraulic rollers. What size cam are yoy looking for, or what power range? There are some things to cinsider if you convert. The first being price. The cam and lifters is going to be more. You will also need different length pushrods, a different distributor gear which is cheap. The upside is no need for zinc additive, a cam that is less prone to wear, less power robbed from parasitic friction, and lifters that are better able to handle more agressive ramps.
If you have a windsor, check Lunati listing for 351w or 302 ho. If you have an older 302 or 289 you’ll have to use the 351 firing order, which is also supposed to be less harsh on your bottom end. They have three different series, but formy money the vodoo is a great line of cams. Also comps xe hydraulic rollers are pretty popular on the street scene around here. Howards is also pretty popular here, but I have heard some negative things about their lifters. My old mandolin player swears by Howards stuff. He’s retired Ford if that helps your decision. He’s also a very good engine builder so I trust his opinion.
I have an older 2 piece rear main seal 302 that I want to keep 302. I was thinking to run some AFR 165 aluminum heads and I have a 4150 Holley carb for now. I want to later convert to the FAST multi port injection kit for reliability and better tunability. I’m looking to be in the 300-400hp range but would really like as much torque as I can get. I guess my target is 350hp which I think is doable on 87 pump gas. In the past I had a 347 stroker with a 108 lobe center cam and would LOVE that idle back. I know it’s not really streetable but god I loved it. So a lopey idle is preferred
I know it’s not a ford, but my brother is running a hyd. Roller in his 383 sbc. His only issue has been that the retro fit roller lifters aren’t as good as the factory lifters. He had issues with his first set and had to drop some fairly serious money on a second set. The first ones weren’t that cheap either. I’m not sure if the windsors have the same issues.
Yeah I guess that’s my dilemma. I know he factory roller blocks are reliable but thought it was a sin to replace the engine when it’s already been rebuilt. Last thing I need is to bolt on everything and have the lifters fail 1000 miles into it and need a new engine anyway. I guess I’m just going to have to build a motor on the side
I suggest using Callies link bar roller lifters. They sell to a lot of the OEM’s (Lunati for instance).
As much as I like roller cams, the lifters are pricey. If it’s a daily and a budget build you could probably pick another cam that will keep you happy and use the saved money on another aspect of the build. If the budget is not a worry then the high end roller lifters are supposed to be alot better
Not necessarily a budget build. More of a don’t want to waste build. I’d hate to waste a recently built motor just because I want a roller cam block
I yend to agree with Caleb on maybe just going with a flat tappet more suited to what you’re looking for. Depending on your compression, the comp 270m or the milder of the two Lunati bracket masters would sound great as long as you have a little compression to bleed off.
Oh yeah, and xr7 hit the nail on the head about Callies. They make a great product.
If budget isn’t a big concern then then you can definately get good lifters.
It’s not a huge concern but I’d like something reliable that won’t to spend 2gs on a set of lifters reliable and reasonable is what I’m looking for
You can look at Morel lifters and you’re going to drop about $800 for the street version.
http://morel-lifters.com/
At those prices I will be staying flat tappet for some time to come.
I think at 800 dollars for just the lifters I’ll be building my roller block for sure and just run what I have for now
Unless you are dead set against a retrofit setup, you can spend WAY less than $800 for a complete HR setup. Around $600 all in, less if you buy some of the parts from me!
You absolutely can spend less for the entire set up. The arguement is that there seems to be a high failure rate on the entry level lifters
The retrofit style setup is what the 302 HO’s came from the factory with and they do just fine. But, I would not argue that a link bar setup is better.
Ok. So I just got done looking at comp retrofit kit that contains spider and requires drilling and tapping to install. This looks similar to the factory setup and it seems that failures on this type of setup were from not allowing enough room for drainback upon install.
This setup is all of $50 plus the cost of your hydraulic rollers which for factory style non link bar which this retrofit kit is designed to let you use, come in at a whopping $150-$200 depending on who you get them from.
For that price I could find myself in the hydraulic roller game.
What is the biggest benefit of roller lifters, I have been running a Comp Cams 268H in a mildly modified 351W with a good set of flat tappet hydraulics for the last 5 years and approx. 6000 miles and the car performs great (6200-6300 rpm 1-2 shifts).
If I remember right factory cars started coming out with rollers years ago to help with fuel mileage…how many of you out there are concerned about your fuel mileage.
600-2000 dollars for lifters when you can spend 100-150 and get the same performance doesn’t make a lot sense to me.
first benefit is no zinc additive necessary, allows more aggressive ramps per total duration/lift (more power under the curve), less friction. From what I’m seeing as far as rollers go, you can get factory ones for far less than $600-$2,000. $150-$200 is more like factory replacement hydraulic roller lifters which I never had a problem with in a 5.0.
As far as benefits I’m going to notice, kind of irrelevant unless I’m rebuilding the engine. I’m certainly not going to tear the front of my engine and car apart when I have so few hours on the XE flat tappet cam I have in the car right now for a small gain.