Hydraulic roller lifters

[apm]

Hey Guys
I run an engine shop and for the last two years I have been fighting a plague of hyd roller lifter issues , I have had lifters that are excessively noisy but intermitantly , I've had sets of lifters that pump up but a few random ones wont flow oil up to the rocker , I've had them stick and stay bottomed out , I've had them run fine until I put the first pull on the dyno and then 1 or 2 will collapse. Even had a set that I couldn't set the rocker pre load on because as I'd set 1 rocker then rotate the engine some pushrods would fall out because the piston would jam at the bottom of its travel.
I have used most major brands , cheaper and more expensive morels , which also come in many re branded boxes , hi lift Johnson, comp cams etc
The only ones I have had success with are the super expensive top of the line cranes and the top of the range isky ( made by Johnson from what I'm told ), problem is that the basic engines with lower rpm and lower spring tension shouldn't need $900 lifters , what is everyone else using ? Maybe I'm doing something wrong or maybe I've had no luck , what is everyone out there using for the average builds , pretty much engines not trying to go past 6500 and running less than 160lb on seat and 450 open.
Thanks in advance

[Orr89rocz]

If oem hyd roller provision chevys, i like the gm ls7 lifters

[RevTheory]

Are you inspecting/cleaning etc. the guts of each lifter before it goes in? I'll be watching how this thread develops fo sho!

And sorry for your luck

[tjs44]

In the Pontiac world the Comp hyd rollers MFGed by Shaver Industries seem to be the best.When out of them they sub Morel made units.

[reginald]

I wish there was a cheaper alternative than a $900 lifter but if it avoids a time consuming failure im just going to pay it. If you find a better option please let us know.

[apm]

No I'm not dis assembling all the lifters before fitting them , so at the moment I'm with Reginald, I'm buying the more expensive ones because the time it would take to strip clean and re assemble every set is crazy, if a factory style lifter does permit I do use the ls7 lifter and it has been fine , I'll keep selling the expensive ones if need be because the failure rate is so hi with everything else I'll go broke with warrantys , was just hoping there may be another option that people have had luck with

[RevTheory]

I hear ya, man. It just seems like QC is so poor these days that you can't trust anything to be right.

[BILL-C]

I've also had more bad experiences with hydraulic roller lifters than good. The only ones that haven't let me down so far are crane, genuine gm, and johnson hylift.

[smeg]

Can you test them first in a hydraulic lifter tester with the correct fluid, it used to be called HT fluid years ago.
That way it is quick and easy, you can test them multiple times to make sure they won't stick or collapse and your supplier will get more involved in the quality if a lot fail and are sent back.

[Speedbump]

I just had the same problem with a set of COMP hyd. roller lifters for a Pontiac. Date code showed them to be slightly over a year old. Adjusted really nice, but by the time I got back to #1 EVERY lifter had collapsed and stuck to the bottom, leaving the same problem as has been described. Had the hot rod shop call COMP and the usual drivel about soaking, oiling, cleaning, etc. came up. In other words, it was my fault for not doing lots of extra steps I feel a $400 set of lifters from a "reputable" company should not need. It's hard enough to make a buck on an engine without having to spend lots of extra time on something that's really hard to explain to a customer. The hot rod shop did me right and got me a new set of lifters with a 6 mo. date code and they worked perfectly. Does ANYONE think COMP will look at their product and at least examine their manufacturing process over a problem like this?

[Dutchman]

Just finished a nice 355 factory roll or motor and had the plunger issue as stated earlier. Hylift Johnson fast bleed street lifter, this was the second set I had to get for this motor. The first set arrives with each lifter packaged in a plastic wrapper sealed,at least half had some amount of surface rust on them as well as some sort of oil they were packed with. I would have disassembled and cleaned each one but two of the rollers were so badly pitted right through the hardness ,they looked like a motor that sat for 10 years.
Sent them back to liberty and got the second set,this is where the relationship went bad.
I pump up every hydrolic lifter with a squirt can with a pin point tip until clear oil comes out of the pushrod cup. When setting the lash,4 collapsed and wouldn't return up. The clips Johnson uses is some type of one use push clip,I would have tried to clean them but had no idea where to get new clips if one rendered useless upon disassembly.
Played with them for a hour or so and made some sort of adjustment with a .020 preload and put it on the Dyno.
Banged and clanged for 5 min or so and cleared up.
Installed it in the car,whisper quiet when cold. 60 psi 10-40 conventional. At operating temp one starts to tick.
Tried adjusting up to 060 preload ,nobuano.
Called hylift and spoke to Bob in tech,bob wanted nothing to do with what I had to say,told me to contact my sales rep from where I purchased them.
Anyone know a place other than a gm dealer for Delphi lifters,I think this may be my next step. Very interested in other people's experiences with either lifter.

[BillK]

Are you inspecting/cleaning etc. the guts of each lifter before it goes in?

You cannot disassemble most of the retrofit type hydraulic lifters because the link bar rivet is in the way.

[BillK]

I have also been having the same issue. I am done with Morel for sure. Have not had an issue with Comp or Crane. I really wonder if we are starting to push the limits on hydraulic lifters in some engines ? The boat engines I have been doing are running 450 open. But then again the Cranes and the Comps seem to be ok there.

As far as the stock type Chevy roller lifters with the dog bone, I have actually had the best luck with the ones that Eloy sells. Not sure who is making theirs for them. One of my Harely customers uses them in V-twin engines with outlandish pressures and lifts. We have been using their late model Hemi lifters too with some pretty big cams and no problems at all.

[tjs44]

As I said Comp does not make their own lifters.Their primary lifters are made by Shaver Industries in SoCal.When they run out they sub Morels.Lifters with a S like 857S are the Shavers,857Ms are Morels.At least that was about 8 month ago when I got the info.Tom

[Geoff2]

After reading this thread, I am liking my solid roller lifters even more...