[John Milner]

I have several sets of older unused Pontiac hydraulic lifters that are in Wolverine Blue Racer boxes that I am considering using. I cant find a date on the boxes of these lifters. Does anyone know who made lifters for Wolverine?

[1968GTO421]

Ages ago I heard that Crane was involved with Wolverine Blue Racer (FWIW)

[Tim Corcoran]

The older the better as they say they don't make them like they used to. You may want to disassemble them and clean them though.

[Formulas]

Old school Crane, good stuff, unobtainable today

[Tom Vaught]

The old Blue Racer Lifter and Camshaft sets were offered by Wolverine and used CMC/Crane Camshafts and Johnson Hydraulic Lifters.

I also still have several sets of brand new Johnson Lifters sitting on the shelf from the old days.
And not just Pontiac Cams but Oldsmobile, Ford, and Chevy grinds too.

Tom V.

[Tom Vaught]

Any Pontiac Guys who also own a Olds W-30 or W-31 vehicle?

Tom V.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Milner, can you post a picture of your "oldie" lifters??? just curious. I have a set that I think is Wolverine, also. Got them at Parr Automotive, looong time ago...

[John Milner]

There are some pictures of some of the lifters. Some look a little different than others. Some have the oil band and two small machined grooves below the oil band. The other appears smooth. The oil bands are in the same location but the one with the dual machined bands has an oil hole slightly higher than the smooth lifters. I think they should work and will hopefully be a better option than some of the stuff on the market today.

[NeighborsComplaint]

TRW Wolverine HL-1951 Hydraulic Valve Lifter HL25 HL35 H951 JB-951 HT944 VL49 VL51.

Made by TRW Hy-Lift (hence the part no prefix) to Crane Specs for Wolverine Blue Racer Brand (owned by Crane). TRW Hy-Lift was eventually sold to Johnson Hy-Lift.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by 1968GTO421

Ages ago I heard that Crane was involved with Wolverine Blue Racer (FWIW)

Harvey Crane OWNED Wolverine Blue Racer (sold to the off the street guys thru dealers like me.) CMC did large volume OEM Camshafts for Ford/GM/others.

The Wolverine Blue Racer line was very high quality parts and to OEM specs or in some cases the same rough durations but with more lift like the Pontiac 744
High Lift Camshafts.

Tom V.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by John Milner

There are some pictures of some of the lifters. Some look a little different than others. Some have the oil band and two small machined grooves below the oil band. The other appears smooth. The oil bands are in the same location but the one with the dual machined bands has an oil hole slightly higher than the smooth lifters. I think they should work and will hopefully be a better option than some of the stuff on the market today.

The lifters in the picture on the left are what you would get from Crane. The pictures of the lifters on the right were like the ones that came in Sealed Power boxes. I'm guessing your lifters came from the time frame of the first round of the lifter debacle and that is the reason they are mixed.

[John Milner]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

The lifters in the picture on the left are what you would get from Crane. The pictures of the lifters on the right were like the ones that came in Sealed Power boxes. I'm guessing your lifters came from the time frame of the first round of the lifter debacle and that is the reason they are mixed.

I don’t know a whole lot of the history on these particular lifters. I bought several sets from a guy who had them for a long time. Was that around the early 90’s that they had the first round of lifter issues? I’m hoping that these will be decent quality.

[Tom Vaught]

Camshaft Machine Company (CMC) located in Jackson, Michigan was established in 1942 and is probably the largest designer and manufacturer of automotive camshafts in the world. CMC produces cams for GM, Ford, Chrysler, Comp Cams, Lunati, Edlebrock, Crane, Wolverine and many others.

Most (but not all) of the automotive camshafts produced today are produced at one of the Big Three cam manufacturers all located in Michigan. CMC of Jackson, MI., Engine Power Components (EPC) of Muskegon, MI., and Waver Bartel Cam Company, of Grand Haven, MI.

CMC purchased Wolverine approximately 1990/1991.

Crane Cams purchased CMC around 1995 and Wolverine was included in this purchase. During this period Crane owned both Wolverine and CMC.

Crane sold CMC to Federal Mogul about April or May of 1999. Crane did not sell Wolverine to Federal Mogul and Crane still owns Wolverine. Federal Mogul also owns the Waver Martel Cam Company.

CMC was the OEM supplier for most of the muscle car cams for GM, Ford, Chrysler and others back in the muscle car era. This included the infamous 9779067, 9779068, 9779041 etc. CMC currently supplies many cams to the OEM manufacturers and holds copyrights for many OEM grinds. If you purchase a Pontiac original muscle car grind like the 068 for an example, no matter whom you purchase it from it will be made by CMC.

Another interesting tid bit is that some time prior to 1990 when Crane and Wolverine were competitors Crane developed their own version of the Pontiac 9779068 (and maybe others) but advertised it as a computer enhanced version and not an exact duplicate. The reason that Crane did not produce an exact duplicate is because CMC still holds copyrights to this cam and many others.

Wolverine does not have their own cam grinding shop. CMC supplies most of the grinds to Wolverine. Crane also grinds some of Wolverine cams.

Even though Crane has their own cam grinding shop CMC still grinds some of the cams sold under the Crane name. Crane currently has the contract for the Summit brand cams. Crane also grinds some cams sold under the Wolverine name. Those Summit cams could be produced by CMC or Crane, hence the rumored Wolverine Summit connection.

It has been rumored that Crane makes all Wolverine Cams and this is not true. Most of the cams sold under the Wolverine name are produced by CMC. It is true that a small percentage of cams sold under the Wolverine name are produced at the Crane manufacturing facility. To complicate things further it seems that certain grinds could be purchased under the Crane or Wolverine name that are the exact same grind, and CMC or Crane depending on the grind could have produced the cam.

It’s interesting that most people have not heard of CMC, EPC, or Waver Bartel even though they have been around for a very long time, longer than a lot of us have.

Tom V.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

The lifters in the picture on the left are what you would get from Crane. The pictures of the lifters on the right were like the ones that came in Sealed Power boxes. I'm guessing your lifters came from the time frame of the first round of the lifter debacle and that is the reason they are mixed.

I HAVE 9 SETS OF NEW WOLVERINE BLUE RACER LIFTERS FROM THE EARLY 1990s (in the Wolverine boxes HL-1951 with the dual groove on the lifters.
And the sales slip.

Nothing on the boxes or lifters says they came from Sealed Power.
Johnson Lifters were never a part of Sealed Power, I believe in the early 1990s. TRW was.

So that business about the Sealed Power "Lifter Debacle" in the late 1990s while true is several years after the lifters were produced with the dual groove
around the lifters.

Tom V.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by John Milner

I don’t know a whole lot of the history on these particular lifters. I bought several sets from a guy who had them for a long time. Was that around the early 90’s that they had the first round of lifter issues? I’m hoping that these will be decent quality.

It was around that time the first wave of lifters issues popped up. Im just going by memory and guessing yours came from that era since there are obviously lifters made by two different manufacturers mixed in your boxes.

I think your lifters would be a better choice over any lifter made today.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

I HAVE 9 SETS OF NEW WOLVERINE BLUE RACER LIFTERS FROM THE EARLY 1990s (in the Wolverine boxes HL-1951 with the dual groove on the lifters.
And the sales slip.

Nothing on the boxes or lifters says they came from Sealed Power.
Johnson Lifters were never a part of Sealed Power, I believe in the early 1990s. TRW was.

So that business about the Sealed Power "Lifter Debacle" in the late 1990s while true is several years after the lifters were produced with the dual groove
around the lifters.

Tom V.

Hi Tom, the picture below shows a lifter out of a Sealed Power box from the late 90's (the lifter on the right). The lifter body is similar to a current day Hy-lift Johnson but not the same.

[Tom Vaught]

Not sure Paul where Wolverine Purchased these lifters on the 1990-91 time frame.
All I know is that they are new and every one of the double groove on them.
They have the good thick wire and groove plunger retention design.
I used to buy them in a "brick" (not sure of the exact number of lifters in a "brick"
as I never actually counted each lifter but think it was 12 across and 12 down, or 144 lifters or 9 sets of 16 lifters.

Good memories, so I have 9 new sets of the HL-1951 on the shelf.

Since Rhoads buys the lifters from Johnson and machines the groove in the plunger,
I should have hydraulic lifters for a long time.

I will have to do more research on this "Lifter Debacle".
Tom V.

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

Not sure Paul where Wolverine Purchased these lifters on the 1990-91 time frame.
I used to buy them in a "brick" (not sure of the exact number of lifters in a "brick"
as I never actually counted each lifter but think it was 12 across and 12 down, or 144 lifters or 9 sets of 16 lifters.

Tom V.

They were also sold as Wolverine Blue Racer in TRW (debacle) packaging with a single oil band.

[Formulas]

I recently bought Rhoads and Sealed power HT951R And they are the same build sealed power HT951R is found at Rock Auto 6.89 each only problem is paper clip retainer instead of C'clip but some places are near double price

[Tom Vaught]

The new Rhoads lifters I bought 4 months ago had the single groove lifter
NeighborsComplaint.

Tom V.