[67drake]

I found a cam and lifter set for sale and at a decent price. I asked the seller what brand the lifters are and he e-mailed back that they are Elgin brand, and as far as he knows are made by Melling.
I did a search and to my surprise the only threads I found here on Elgin lifters are 10-15 years old! With the way quality has slid in recent years I don’t want to go by posts that are that old.
So, anybody know what kind of quality to expect with Elgin lifters these days?
Thanks!

[ponyakr]

From what's been happening the last few years, I'd say you won't know what you'll get til you open the box.

I bought Jegs lifters & got Delphi lifters in the box. Those are the ones with the low groove denoting a hardened foot. Those are supposed to be made in the USA. At least that's what it says on the Jegs box.

[67drake]

Thanks Ponyakr.
Well I guess “no news is good news” as they say.

[steve25]

My course of action these days with a flat tapped set up would be to get a set of Decent cast iron lifters and then send them out to Paul Carter to get cryo a treatment done and then get a Cam that has been intrided.

This assumes I can get get a lifter in time for my build with a EDM hole in its foot.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by steve25

My course of action these days with a flat tapped set up would be to get a set of Decent cast iron lifters and then send them out to Paul Carter to get cryo a treatment done and then get a Cam that has been intrided.

This assumes I can get get a lifter in time for my build with a EDM hole in its foot.

The last flat tappet cam I did, a solid flat tappet, is in our daily driver. I had the cam nitrided and used Comps solid lifter with an EDM hole on the face. I'm extremely happy with the setup. Not sure if the EDM hole and nitride treatment did anything other than piece of mind, but I can say after 30,000 miles now and checking valve lash, it hasn't budged at all.

[hurryinhoosier62]

In recip aircraft engines, we had constant problems with lifters spalling and cam lobes wearing off due to the lack of splash lubrication. There are now STC mods to actually drill oil spurt holes into the lobes themselves ( these cams are already nitrided) along with lifters that have hardened faces.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

In recip aircraft engines, we had constant problems with lifters spalling and cam lobes wearing off due to the lack of splash lubrication. There are now STC mods to actually drill oil spurt holes into the lobes themselves ( these cams are already nitrided) along with lifters that have hardened faces.

That sounds pretty interesting.

[dataway]

I've seen OHC, rocker arm motorcycle cams with factory oil holes in the lobes on the base circle. Rockers have hard chrome faces. Maintained properly they do many thousands of miles at very high rpms.

[ELKHORNAOG7]

I know crower makes a camsaver lifter and for both hyd. and solid and I have the hyd. lifter and when I put them in my engine I used a drill to run the oil pump and I was shocked on how much oil was going on the face of the lifter and camshaft ,I will never use anything but these lifters again.-----BOB

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by ELKHORNAOG7

I know crower makes a camsaver lifter and for both hyd. and solid and I have the hyd. lifter and when I put them in my engine I used a drill to run the oil pump and I was shocked on how much oil was going on the face of the lifter and camshaft ,I will never use anything but these lifters again.-----BOB

Yep Comp sells both versions too. I'm sure many others are doing the same.
It is crazy how much oil it blows all over the cam and the hole is extremely tiny. I had worries of that possibly clogging but I guess oil pressure keeps it flowing.

Here's a picture of the solids from Comp. Look close, it's hard to see.