[Formulajones]

I think I mentioned this before but when I do a Pontiac I use the hylift Johnson's with pin oiling. It's an excellent lifter. Paul at koerner racing engines got me onto those years ago and he's been building engines and using them for decades. Never any issue with them.

My only problem is they aren't always available. Back when the beer flu kicked off and screwed up everything they weren't available for several months and it was hit and miss after that. Kinda like most everything else anymore lol. But if they are in stock, or butler has them, I'd snag up a set and move on without giving it another thought

[charlie66]

So, is this the part number you use? HLJ-A-2375SE

[Jay S]

Originally Posted by charlie66

I wish I knew of a real Johnson that has pin oiling.

LOL… Which real Johnson are we talking about?


The Muskegon, MI made Topline Hylift Johnson HLJ-A- 2375 SE has pin oiling. I think I have alluded to it already, in a lot of areas it is in a class of its own. I think their valving is more limited compared to a couple of the other lifter options, but that works well with the ultra tight bleed rates, and the restricted pushrod oiling is not necessary. These are very capable lifters. Just set a rev limiter with them.

If you consider the Taylor, MI made Johnson lifter being the original Johnson, they will only have pin oiling with Pontiac link bars on a lifter from either a LS or SBC. Versus the Pontiac the LS has a higher oil band, the SBC will be lower. I think the SBC lifter would actually be the better oil band location on your cam. Both might require a groove in the lifter bore to keep the band positive fed. The valving on these has some improvements and lets them rev without quite as tight of bleed rates as a HLJ. I don’t think restrict pushrods is mandatory on these, but it won’t hurt either. The improved valving keeps the lifter stable longer for a few more RPMs. I don’t know how much you could even tell though. If you’re going to mess with swapping link bars, be my hero and do it on an ISKY HPX. LOL

You should probably just do the HLJ 2375 SE and not look back if you want pin oiling on a USA made lifter and no hassle.

The micron rating for filters varies depending on the flow it is rated at. When comparing filters the lower the flow they are tested at the better the micron rating will look, some companies rate their filters from 2 points. Other use one point. As the flow is increased larger particles get pushed through the filter media. The thinner oil lowers the pressure gradient across the filter and improves the efficiency of the filter. It’s just my opinion, but a 50 wt oil would not have been a good idea for a breaking in an HR set up.

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by Jay S

LOL… Which real Johnson are we talking about?


The Muskegon, MI made Topline Hylift Johnson HLJ-A- 2375 SE has pin oiling. I think I have alluded to it already, in a lot of areas it is in a class of its own. I think their valving is more limited compared to a couple of the other lifter options, but that works well with the ultra tight bleed rates, and the restricted pushrod oiling is not necessary. These are very capable lifters. Just set a rev limiter with them.

If you consider the Taylor, MI made Johnson lifter being the original Johnson, they will only have pin oiling with Pontiac link bars on a lifter from either a LS or SBC. Versus the Pontiac the LS has a higher oil band, the SBC will be lower. I think the SBC lifter would actually be the better oil band location on your cam. Both might require a groove in the lifter bore to keep the band positive fed. The valving on these has some improvements and lets them rev without quite as tight of bleed rates as a HLJ. I don’t think restrict pushrods is mandatory on these, but it won’t hurt either. The improved valving keeps the lifter stable longer for a few more RPMs. I don’t know how much you could even tell though. If you’re going to mess with swapping link bars, be my hero and do it on an ISKY HPX. LOL

You should probably just do the JLI-2112OPRand not look back if you want pin oiling on a USA made lifter and no hassle.

The micron rating for filters varies depending on the flow it is rated at. When comparing filters the lower the flow they are tested at the better the micron rating will look, some companies rate their filters from 2 points. Other use one point. As the flow is increased larger particles get pushed through the filter media. The thinner oil lowers the pressure gradient across the filter and improves the efficiency of the filter. It’s just my opinion, but a 50 wt oil would not have been a good idea for a breaking in an HR set up.

What I'm talking about is the JLI-2112OPR Johnson.

Yes, you did tell me about the HLJ-A- 2375 SE . But the .00012 clearance had me a little worried about running 20w50 and the bleed down thing. So, I started looking elsewhere.

Did you miss type when saying the JLI-2112OPR has pin oiling and not look back? Did you mean to write HLJ-A- 2375 SE and not look back?

Yeah, about using 20w50 to break in the motor. I realized after looking further into it I can't do that. But after I break it in, I'll be going to the 20w50. I've always use solid lifters so that's why I overlooked that the hydraulic needs thinner oil.

The guy at Johnson never got back to me so I'm not sure what's going on with that. I guess I only have 2 choices now.lol

I have a wix with 21 microns and a b39 Baldwin that says its 18 microns. So, I guess I'll be using one of those. The thing with the Balwin is the holes are smaller than the wix and even thou there's 2 more holes in the Baldwin then the wix still as more flow area. So, I will most likely use the wix. Probably doesn't matter thou.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by charlie66

So, is this the part number you use? HLJ-A-2375SE

Yes, just grab a set of those and you'll be fine

I use 20-50 synthetic amsoil with them for years and works fine

[Jay S]

Yes, sorry, I meant HLJ-A-2375SE as the no hassle USA made lifter with pin oiling for a Pontiac. Same lifter Jones is referring to.

[charlie66]

I called Top line and talked to a guy Dave Ewert. I asked him if I could use 20w50 oil he said no problem. He said the lifters can rpm to 6500. So, I'm glad that I made this thread. You guys opened my eyes on this one for sure, Thank you to everyone! I'm feeling like I'm going to order the liters. Butler says I need to measure my base circle up to the lifter bore hole, so I'm going to have to wait on buying until I'm at that part of the build.

[charlie66]

I wound up getting the Johnsons with .093 travel. Butler was out of the Hy-lifts. So being after measuring the heights off the cam base circle to the feed hole top and bottom I found in my particular engine the top of the band was .174" bellow the bottom of the hole. Which meant there was only going to be oiling for 1/3 of 1 rotation of the cam. So, I went and ground a trench down from the bottom of the hole .250". So hopefully it does the trick and gets full oiling now. Comp seems to make their base circles really small which creates problems with the band heights imo.