[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

Camshaft Machine Company/ Crane did the first PRODUCTION ENGINE roller Cams and Lifters for a OEM in that time frame mentioned and the application was the *ord M*stang. And they worked very well.

Tom V.

Hi Tom, on a related note I was told the "original" Crane was put out of business because one of the Big Three were allowed to bail on a large some of money that was owed to Crane due to a Government bail out.... Do you know any of the details as the which company and which engine program?

[Sirrotica]

I'm not sure what year ford started using roller lifters, but GM did a mild redesign on the 5.7 diesel engine in 1981, due to reliability issues. That was the first GM engine that I saw roller lifters in a production engine. I actually owned a 1981 Bonneville with a 5.7 diesel, that ran 150,000 miles with the original engine, before I sold the car, so they must have actually improved it. The car got totaled, shortly after I sold it, so I have no idea how long it would have run.

[Dragncar]

I have had a set of white box hyd lifter on the shelf for over 10 years. Not sure if I will ever run them.

[Hooter]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

I have had a set of white box hyd lifter on the shelf for over 10 years. Not sure if I will ever run them.

Me too.

[dataway]

I'm wondering more about the failure rate that showed up in the hobby around 1990.

Unusual that Detroit wouldn't do the research to locate the source of their lifter problems rather than redesign the whole valve train into one that would long outlast the warranty ... I mean they are not known for doing anyone favors. Surely they had the resources to identify the source of the problems and correct it, it's not like the science of metallurgy was going backwards.

I do know they were under pressure to compete with the longevity and longer warranties of the Japanese imports that would regularly do 200k miles without problems.