Hydraulic Roller Lifter failure
 

Attachment 541107 over the weekend i had a Comp cam HR lifter failure,with around 1,000 miles .. Comp says it's over 12 months ,so not much they can do...wondering ..what is the absolutely best Hydraulic Roller lifter out there. that nobody has had a problem and what is the best Solid Roller Lifter out there with no problems.,,Is that a foolish statement, asking with NO Problem nowadays??thanks for your input... oh..i use Valvoline VR-1 20w50

WOW,first total failure I have seen.PM sent

Mine have been loud since the day I put exhaust on my engine. Stuff like this makes me want to just take them out and install solids. If it weren't for the mitigating factor of cost of quality roller lifters I would have already done it.

My were loud until I started using AMSOIL Z-Rod. Weird that an oil designed for flat tappet cams would solve that problem, but it did. Howard's HYD roller lifters BTW, I've run em hard and never had a problem. I was running Comp solids on a HYD profile in my previous engine and had a very similar failure.

Ive never technically had a problem either, other than the noise. It just makes me nervous. And I would swear they are louder at the top end of the drag strip. That's likely my imagination though.

I know it can still be a contentious subject, but I feel there is more and more evidence that a solid roller on a mild hydraulic cam/spring is just fine.

I'm thinking there are no more quality hydraulic roller lifters for our Pontiacs. We've been pushing Nitrated SFT set-ups for performance street engines.

Butler strongly recommended Johnson's hydraulic roller lifters. I'm still waiting on heads (COVID-delay) but you could look into those

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Get exhaust cutouts. Once you open them, zero lifter noise. Guaranteed.

Had the same failure on my brother's car and it damaged the lobe and other lifters collapsed. Got replacement lifters from Comp under warranty and 5 collapsed. I really wonder what they said to each other at Comp when they did their post-mortum on the collapsed and broken lifters? Just put some Crane HR lifters in yesterday that I had from 10 years ago and the nightmare is over, they work great without any ticking or clacking like marbles in a dryer.

In one of the more recent HR threads Cliff stated he likes to use the Crane HR lifters if the budget allows.

Who makes the Crane HR lifters?

I had hydraulic roller lifters and hated them. Just noisy. Mine are the later Comps with a Road Paver. My feeling is this is a retrofit. Roller lifters in a block designed for hydraulic flat tappet. I mentioned this to Dave Bishop and he about lost his mind, maybe he has stock in CC IDK. I have read all the posts including Paul K.'s about notching the lifter bores(which makes the most sense to me by the way, although have not tried it). The pros, the cons, the bad, the good, the success stories, the failures. I have no confidence in any brand, any age, any series. To me, they're not worth the initial cost or the potential cost of catastrophic failure. Strict race engine with unlimited budget maybe.

In the meantime, I have a relatively new RP cam, CC roller lifters, Smith Bros. pushrods and Crower SS roller rockers sting on a shelf. Do the math.... Sorry for the rant. lol

I have the Shaver Comps in my motor. Noisy when hot at idle, 20 psi. Really noisy around 1500-1900 RPM, 45-50 psi. I've done the lifter bore mod recommended by Paul Carter. No change. I had the earlier comps and they were noisy also. Ready to throw the towel in and just live with it. Saw a post by Cliff saying he bottoms out the lifter and backs it off 1/2 turn rather than 1/2 turn down from zero preload. Tried it and it is quiet at all RPMs. As Cliff stated, not recommending this, just saying....

On the Comp lifters, isn't the roller the same for both solid and hydraulic roller lifters? If so, a roller failure could have happened with either.

We installed two sets of Crane lifters about 3 years ago and both sets were extremely noisy. They will go to 6,500 RPM without a whimper, but idle noise will drive you up the wall. While one set is still in my blue GTO, the other set was removed from a club members car after he couldn't take the noise, sold to another member and then pulled out because that member couldn't take the noise, and they now reside in the third engine that we just finished up. Jury is still out, but I did Paul's alteration to the lifter bores on the third engine. The break-in and first outing have very promising results of the Crane lifters being quiet.

Here's a photo of my Crane HR lifters vs. Lunati HR lifters. Note the thin oil band on the Crane's. This is from 3 years ago and the Crane's had just been introduced, so thinking they are still offering the same one? If so, I'd stay away from them unless the oil trough has been added to the lifter bore.

Mine were quiet as a church mouse when started 40-50 PSI at an idle. Could idle all day and stay quiet. As soon as I drove it (60-70 PSI) for I dunno a 15-20 minute ride and back in the garage a Singer sewing machine had nothing on these things. Cool down and restart quiet again. I use 5w30 oil with 40-50 PSI at an idle hot. To me, noise equal roller possibly leaving the lobe, no comfort there. I recommend if you use roller on the street you should probably have triple A.

I would have liked to try Cliffs procedure.

I believe Comp owns Crane.Tom

Tom,
You seem to be the only guy that has HR's in several cars and have no problems. What's your secret?

No secret,just lucky.FYI,I have NEVER actually done them myself in any of my engines!My engine builders(4 diff over the years) have done the installs.No clue how they have done them.Tom

That is the exact failure that Paul C has talked about on these forums for years and why he absolutely does not like to use those new "taller" Comp "S" Shaver lifters. He's had a few of them break at the wheel like that dating back a few years, and when you look at the design you can see why. It's very thin there. We've talked about that in depth in the past.

It's one reason I like the older Comp (Morel) lifter because the wheel is almost completely enclosed. However the oil band is quite a bit lower.
See pic.

As a side note, I'm like Tom, never had issues with either, with noise or any other type of failure and have run them for thousands of miles in several engines.

The 383-301 im building right now will have Morel LS lifters with pontiac linkbars.The 301 block has the oil holes much lower in the bores and much wider holes.The rub is you cant put them in or out while the heads are on.Uncharted territory for me.The D port 383 I did,I was told had Comp solid SBC lifters with pontiac linkbars.Joe Sherman the builder passed away a couple years ago.Tom

I was told the lifters before the Shavers were Johnsons?Tom