Comp Cams Pontiac DLC coated lifters
 

This came up in another thread so I thought that I’d throw this out there. Comp has finally released their DLC coated Pontiac lifters, any thoughts on these for helping avoid HFT failure on break in?

https://www.compcams.com/xtreme-ener...310113017.html

It certainly could only help assuming the all important mechanical details are right.

The price for this added feature is not prohibitive by a long shot which is amazing in today’s replacement auto parts world !

But it’s imperative that the lifter bores do not have ware such that it allows the lifter to wabble as it starts to rotate.

A lifer that does such will not rotate as much as it ultimately should normally and as such it will also concentrate the load on a much smaller lifter face to Lobe contact area then it should have.

At the factory Pontiac only very rarely had Cam break in issues even with the oil that was available back then, which is no where near as good as todays Pennzoil ultra of today for example.

Also factory production rods had oil holes on there sides that due also to a feed hole in the bearing unloaded a spray of oil right up onto the cam for every one time that a rod cycled up and down.

With modern aftermarket rods over filling the pan by 1.25 QTs is the next best thing to having that factory squirt hole when your breaking in your Cam.

In terms of our factory blocks and the average mileage that they have on them I just cant see why a big Cam company does not offer a .001” over size lifter .

Such you go a long way to having a successful new Cam break in on motors of over 80K miles that where not getting frequent enough oil changes.

A high load rated oil for example a 5w30 should be used for break in because good oil flow must be had even before oil temperature starts to come up to help it flow well down the side of a lifter and down onto the Cam lobe.

Having casually looked at Comps lifter offerings don't they have higher priced HFT's without DLC ?? .... What i am getting at is the 121$$ with DLC a basement lifter with a pretty face ?? ... Internals matter as well but i have not scienced it out, food for thought

When they DLC a lightweight cool face SFT I am in because i have a larger NOS solid cam that needs dance partners

Interesting that Summit lists them for Chevy, Cadillac and BOP: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/c...+5c59c2f3439cc

3016 are Chevy and Buick, 3017 are Pontiac and Olds.

Pro Magnum HFT lifters are around $300, and no DLC face. It is likely they are made at HLJ.

The Extreme energy DLC lifters are Hi energy lifters with a face coating.

The SKU # via CC link in the opening post is 3016 and lists them as Pontiac/Olds on the actual website, even though the link address indicates 3017: https://www.compcams.com/xtreme-ener...310113017.html

If you choose the "product specs" tab, it shows them as "Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, Oldsmobile, Pontiac"

That is kind of odd they both show up as 3016 but have different links.

probably the usual Chevy lifter marketed across all engine brands - would explain the price-point - "product specs" tab, shows them as "Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM, Oldsmobile, Pontiac"

That’s my concern, the listing is weird and I’m not familiar enough with the oil band location vs others.

Back in the 80's oil band height and diameter was a concern with SBC lifters masquerading as Pontiac .841 vs. .842 if i remember right, Things may be different now

Does anyone have the specs for the oil band height specific to Pontiac?

So if you take a soft crappy lifter and add DLC coating, does that make the soft crappy lifter as good as a properly made lifter?

Here are the Chevy DLC and Pontiac DLC side by side. The Pontiac clearly has the higher oil band than the Chevy version. They should be two different lifters, which is how they are in the hi energy line. But judging by that other link, be careful you get the correct lifters if you order them.

I think that is definite no. If you get an extra soft lifter from a batch that was DLC coated it will cut thru the DLC like it is butter or flake off.

I did a Bullet cam the was 280/288, 232/240 and .550/.550 lift with 995 comp springs (330 lbs over the nose) that is running around with Hi energy lifter’s sourced from Butler. He had to tighten up the preload to extra to make them fairly quiet. I gave him a hard time when I found out what lifters he used. LOL

It is running though, operates quiet once warmed up. Been in there at least 5 years. They have a bit taller check valve assembly, they seem to like more preload than HLJ and Eaton’s.

It is just my opinion, but it seems to me most lifters today have more issues with grain structure (toughness) versus to low of a Rockwell hardness. Then poor lifter machining just makes the issues worse. I expect the DLC coating should be very helpful when breaking in flat tappets. Time will tell.

Picked up three sets, one Chevy two Pontiac. Used one for my son's malibu and they broke in fine. Vroom vroom

You could make these hyd lifter into solids if you wanted to. People were doing it in the 80s when you could not get real Pontiac solids. They took out the guys and stacked washers in their place.

Are the oil band heights different between the Chevy bs Pontiac?

The Pontiac lifter has the correct oil band height. I replace the cheap retainers with 16mm snap rings though. Fastenal SKU 35210