Hyd. Roller Lifter Check.....Chech
 

What is the best method to check a set of used roller lifters?
I had read an article on this somewhere but not sure where....I did a search and turned up a thread on rebuilding them but the pics. were broke and there was some talk about how that wasn't a rebuild,it was just a good cleaning and inspection.The article I read had mentioned something about rolling each one either down your fingernail or arm (cant remember which) and if it catches or stops rolling.....there bad......but like I said I cant find that article and was wondering if any of you have your own tips or tricks to this.....
I am thinking about just getting a set used with the rollers,dog bones,and spider so I can have the roller set up and wanted to check all of the rollers so I can just replace the ones that are worn or bad......I figured that this would be the most cost efficient way of converting......
Thanks
GM :thumbup:

If, by "converting", you mean using rollers in a flat tappet block, you may want to do a little more research. On a roller block, there are 3 bosses along the top of the oil galley in the center of the valley to bolt the spider to and also the top edges of the lifter bores are machined so that the dog bones will lay in there flat.

really, at $100 a set running new LS7 lifters is about the cheapest most reliable way to go- they're also more advanced than the older chevy lifters.

They only have a simple part in them once the lock is removed that retains the plunger. The roller wheel is easily checked just to make sure it spins freely and doesn`t have any low spots. What you read is pretty much all you do, remove the retainer clip and remove the guts then clean it, reassemble and that`s it.

Techinspector is right on, what is the block? OEM rollers don't go into any old block. If your block is provisioned for a roller, even though it had a flat tappet in it, there will be several unique features that non-roller blocks don't have. These are:

1) As Techinspector pointed out there are three bosses on top of the center oil galley to secure the spider.

2) The lifter bosses are about .3 to.4 inch taller than those of FT blocks to support the long bodied V8 roller lifter.

3) The block face in the timing case has internal bosses that are drilled and tapped for bolting a thrust plate, these are features a FT block doesn't have.

A flat tappet block can be modified to use OEM roller parts but not exactly the way the factory builds them. The tricks are:

1) The main oil galley is drilled end to end to increase its diameter by 1/16th to 5/32nds inch to compensate for bolts that will pass thru it. Where the roller block has three bosses on the main oil galley, the FT block is drilled and tapped thru the oil galley for 3 5/16ths bolts. A stack of washers can be used to substitute for the bosses to position the spider. The bolts are measured for where the bottom threads penetrate the oil galley and top threads just meet the ID of the galley. Each bolt than has the threads that would sit in the middle of the oil galley filed away to reduce their interference with the oil flow. These bolts must be sealed with Loctite, you sure don't want any of them coming out.

2) The V8 roller lifters are not sufficiently supported by their bores, the solution is to use the shorter roller lifters from the 4.3 liter V6 engine. This will also take the longer stock flat tappet length push rod, but check your build to be sure you're getting the proper sweep from the rockers on the valve stems if not you'll have to get a length push rod that corrects the sweep.

3) The OEM roller cam has an extended nose for the thrust plate, which takes a different cam gear/timing set from flat tappet blocks. To get all this together reshape a factory thrust plate till its round so it will fit between the OEM type roller timing gear and the block. A timing set from a non-OEM roller engine whether a flat tappet or aftermarket roller tappet conversion will not work. It must be a timing set compatible with a factory roller cam. Retention of the cam is accomplished with the thrust button familiar from aftermarket roller cams.


FT means flat tappet in this case, not Ford Truck as in FE/FT Ford engines.

Bogie

O.K.,sorry for the confusion but the block is a 87 350 that is set up from factory for a roller but came with a hyd. flat tappet cam and does have the bosses for the spider(just need drilled and tapped) along with the holes to bolt on a cam retainer plate.
here is a pic.
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/IMG_0457.jpg

now back to the question at hand, How to check the used roller lifters to see which ones are all right and which ones need to be replaced?
Thanks
GM :thumbup:

roll tehm in your fingers, if you feel or hear anything that feels like grit or sand is in there then throw them out. I don't kno wwhy you wouldn't just get the newer better lifters though, for the peace of mind alone its worth it.

Yea.....I see your point,I was going to just buy everything in a set that were used (spider,dog bones,cam retainer plate and lifters)but what I think I might do now is wait and see if I can find everything used except for the lifters and just buy them new.....so you say the LS7 ones are good EAH? I will have to check them out. Have a part #?
GM :thumbup:

This post has been merged with the other similar post, carry on gents.....

Are these the ones you are talking about? http://paceperformance.com/index.asp...&ProdID=135370

These are listed as a set for the LS1 ans LS6 models(PN/12499225) but dont mention the LS7, so I wonder if they are the same? price is about right @ $119.95......

With any lifter new or used, you puts down your money and takes your chances. Unless really gouged or gunked up inside there really isn't much to learn by taking them apart, and usually doing that to clean them is a 50/50 proposition that a perfectly good lifter will be made into junk by the time you're done. So you need to decide what is the risk against the cost of replacing a lifter or two after the engine's assembled and installed.

Given a new set of GM roller lifters can be had for 120 bucks, it seems the cost and effort of digging a failed lifter out isn't worth the risk of unknown used lifters.

Bogie

Correct part number- same lifter for LS2 and LS7 NOT the original LS1 lifter BTW.