[Jay S]

Just my opinion. But the Crower HFT cam shaver lifters are probably the best of the cheap HFT’s. I had a friend I picked a cam out for last week, and I suggested the Crower cam savers, which he ordered. Best of cheap was what I relayed to him, I guess that was what he was looking for.

Isky is probably the only other brand that is right in there for quality against HLJ. They are cheaper than HLJ, but more expensive than most lifters, and are a SBC core, which require different push rods.

It is really hard to tell how well the crown was machined looking at a photo. These days you can usually spot lifters made by HLJ by going off the price, they have gotten pretty expensive.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Jay S

Just my opinion. But the Crower HFT cam shaver lifters are probably the best of the cheap HFT’s. I had a friend I picked a cam out for last week, and I suggested the Crower cam savers, which he ordered. Best of cheap was what I relayed to him, I guess that was what he was looking for.

Isky is probably the only other brand that is right in there for quality against HLJ.

Hi Jay, are you saying that Crower HFT lifters are made by Shaver?

Any thought on where Isky get theirs from?

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

Hi Jay, are you saying that Crower HFT lifters are made by Shaver?

Any thought on where Isky get theirs from?

Crower sells “Johnson” cam saver lifters for other brands (ford). They are advertise that way, and priced that way (expensive).

The Crowers are not Eaton/Delphi…and they look just like what Compcams sells, they are priced to compete with what comp sells..I think that kind of makes them Shaver’s doesn’t it? I can’t think of any other mfg they could be sourced from?


The Isky’s lifters used in Pontiacs are a SBC lifter that is called a “high band SBC” lifter. The only company I know of that made such a thing was Johnson Lifter’s in Taylor, MI..Not HLJ. Thought that was who made them at one time..and then Johnson quit making flat tappets. Now I have no idea…

[Jay S]

Here is an example of Crower’s “Johnson”cam saver lifters. Over $11 a lifter. Crower’s Pontiac offering is something different, priced cheaper. That is why I call the Pontiac cam savers the best of the cheaper HFT lifters.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Jay S

Crower sells “Johnson” cam saver lifters for other brands (ford). They are advertise that way, and priced that way (expensive).

The Crowers are not Eaton/Delphi…and they look just like what Compcams sells, they are priced to compete with what comp sells..I think that kind of makes them Shaver’s doesn’t it? I can’t think of any other mfg they could be sourced from?


The Isky’s lifters used in Pontiacs are a SBC lifter that is called a “high band SBC” lifter. The only company I know of that made such a thing was Johnson Lifter’s in Taylor, MI..Not HLJ. Thought that was who made them at one time..and then Johnson quit making flat tappets. Now I have no idea…

IDK Jay, I'm so discouraged with the entire situation. Here's what I know for sure:

The folks making the most money off these lifters don't give one crap about the grief they are causing.

The engine builders that do the "right thing" are getting screwed on the deal, waisting a ton of time and loosing a bunch of sleep.

The customers are getting the shaft and most of them are just trying to enjoy a hobby.

As far as I know there are Hy-lift Johnson and imports. Thankfully as for now the imports look different than the Johnson's so it's easy to tell what you have the .

Hy-lift have their own issues and are priced way to high! My cost is close to $250 a set for the 951R's plus shipping and a drop ship fee, since I stopped stocking them.

The imports are a crap shoot. If they work. they are fine (atleast for a while) if they don't they fail in a big way. See my picture, these "import" lifters (repackaged by Crower, Erson, Lunati, Comp, Melling, and many others) were run on one of our USA made cam cores that was Nitrided, broke in properly without the inner springs and pre-lubed. The engine went about 30 miles, chewed up the bearings got abrasive crap throughout the engine, clogged the oil filter and ground off about .200 of material from the bottom of two lifter bodies (the other fourteen look great).

We feel our best option now are remanufactured GM lifters that we are modifying in house for performance applications. So far we have not had a single issue but only have about five engines in use with these lifters.

I ordered a set of Comp High Energy lifters and a set of their Pro Magnum. They were two different lifter bodies. The High Energy were imported ones most companies are selling. The Pro Magnums were a different lifter body I have never seen before. Don't know if they are any good but I'd certainly choose them over the High Energy.

Crower has purchased their flat tappet lifters (for a Pontiac) from Hy-lift for as long as I can remember. But when they were NA from Hy-lift they would buy them from another source and they would end up with an imported lifter. I'm guessing they are offering different price point lifters now to cover the huge increase in price for the Hy-lift parts.

It's a catch 22 for me. I hate to rag about the increased price for the Hy-lift product but when you pay a premium and still have failures it's a hard pill to swallow.

It's a real poop situation.

Of course all the above is JMHO