67Lemons,
Lifters explained…..
The first step in determining if my dog bones will work for you. It is all dependent on the base circle and lift.
Max lift is when the lifter is on the tallest part of the lobe. The lobe can’t be taller than the bearing journals or the cam could not be inserted through the cam bearings. “Most” cam manufacturers have the lobe as tall as possible to help with the angle of the lobe to the lifter base. Usually just a touch under, like .010” smaller than the cam bearing journal diameter.
The way lift is increased is by reducing the base circle. (Lift is the difference between the base circle and top of lobe)
The issues with running a non link bar lifter is none are made specifically for a Pontiac. Through the years several people have experimented with different OEM lifters.
Lifters proven to work…
I used Sealed Power HT-2148 lifters when I designed the dog bone retainers as I didn’t like the way the ford retainers fit. (This is the lifter folks were using with the Ford spider and Ford dog bones)
In the dimensional drawing below you can see my setup. If you reduce your base circle compared to my base circle, the lifter will drop lower by half the diameter difference and you should be able to subtract that from the amount the oil band is above the bottom of the bore to determine how comfortable you are.
In the picture of the two lifters with the red circled area, the one with the red circle is the HT-2148 lifter. The one on the right in the same picture is what people call the LS7 lifter. The notch for the oil feed hole on the LS7 lifter is higher on the lifter and will raise above the bore at lift and leak oil therefore it cannot be used.
The picture of two lifters without the red circle are on the left, the Howard’s/Gaterman lifter. The Sealed Power HT–2148 is on the right. The issue with the Howard’s/Gaterman lifter is with the oil feed hole lower compared to the Sealed Power lifter. There will need to be modifications to the block with the Howard’s/Gaterman lifter. When this lifter is on the base circle, the oil band/oil feed hole drops completely below the oil feed galley in the block. It’s not by much and will only require chamfering the oil feed hole the slightest amount to maintain oil feed on the base circle. The only issue is the block must be fully disassembled so that you can clean after the modification. It doesn’t require any special tools just a drill and a chamfer bit or even just a half inch drill bit to just to put a chamfer on the opening of the hole.
My retainers will not allow you more lift, less lift or the ability to use any special lifter. They are just designed to keep whatever lifter works in your situation from rotating.
I can’t answer to the quality differences between the USA, Mexico, and China seal powered lifters.
Hopefully this answers some questions.
Thanks,
Stuart “Stan”Landreth
By the way down to three sets
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