[Formulajones]

That issue has been talked to death on here.

My take on it is this...

On more Pontiac builds than I can count I never did the lifter bore mod. I never had any issues what so ever with bleed down or lifter ticking, and we ran some pretty radical hydraulic roller grinds. All the lifters I used to date have been from Comp. One set that I still have I'm told are Johnsons that were reboxed by Comp, which doesn't have the correct oil band, but they were whisper quiet when I ran them.
The latest set just last year I purchased from Paul K. on the forums here. The Comp S lifters. They do in fact have a different height oil band. I put those in a Pontiac block with no lifter bore mod, on a 261/265 @ .050 hydraulic roller and they have been perfectly quiet.

I did build a 455 Pontiac last year and I asked Paul C. to do the lifter bore mod while the block was there for machine work. First time I've ever tried it. Put a set of lifter in that engine from Lunati (others were unobtanium at the time) and that engine has been quiet.

So basically I've had them both ways and I've had no difference in noise or performance either way.

With that said, from my experience it's not necessarily an oil band issue with the lifters but more likely a quality control issue with internal leak down on some of these lifters because the issue is so hit and miss. Yet people continue to go out of their way to try and create a magical lifter with so much emphasis on oil band heights. In 30 years I've just never had a need to do that with a Pontiac.

If you buy a good quality hydraulic roller lifter chances are good you won't see an issue. I'd either go with a set from Paul K, he'll make sure they are correct before he ships them to you, or get a set of Johnsons if they are available.