Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines New cam. Should I spring for roller lifters.

I have a 250 L6 chevy.
I am replacing my cam-Crower-which went flat, with a new Crower. The cam/engine only has about 3 to 4000 miles on it. I broke the cam in as prescribed, it ran great for most of it's life until resently, I've pulled the cam and the engine needs rebuilding. A couple of machinist friends have pointed out that the new oils are made for roller lifters and catalitic converters (no Zinc in the oil). I could use Valvaline Racing oil, it has zinc - race cars have not cat.
My question is - should I spring for roller lifters? Or just stick with the flat and put in the racing oil. Does anyone know if GM EOS is still available?
It is a street car only, with a "RV" type cam, 80 over pistons, four barrel and headers. Otherwise it's stock, all new but stock.

gm EOS is still available. i use it and shell rotella in my oil changes. 1 jug EOS for breakin and 1/2 jug per oil change. do not use it to lube seals when putting motor together, it softens them up.
roller lifters and cam will be very pricy. Isky has them.

Isky finally got billet cores?

MBHD

No Do NOT spring the motor for roller lifters It will be to much pressure on a flat tappet cam. and wear it out long before it's time.

Thanks for the advice guy's.
Bill

You might also consider using a different type of flat tappet lifters. I know that Comp Cams offers what they call a "camsaver" lifter which puts extra oil on the bottom of the tappet where it bears on the cam lobe. Crower probably has an equivalent type of lifter. I'm not sure how well these work with the non-zinc oils now, but that seems to be what they were made for. Give them a call and ask a few questions. And by the way, roller lifters wouldn't work with your RV cam anyway. You'd have to get a whole new cam to use roller lifters.

Thanks Zeke. I have an e.mail off to Crower tech right now, I'm waiting for a response.
Good advice about the rollers and the RV cam.
Thanks,
Bill

Hi, Bill,
After I wrote the first reply, I did a little research, and both Crower and Comp Cams offer what they call Cam Saver lifters. They're described and pictured in the Crower catalog on page 140 if you want to look it up, and you can do that on line. Comp Cams has a sort of FAQ section in which they address accelerated cam lobe wear due to lack of zinc in the oils on the market now. I also thought I'd explain why roller lifters aren't compatible with your RV cam. All flat tappet cams have a very slight taper on the cam lobes in order to make the lifter rotate in its bore when the engine is running. You can't see it with the naked eye, but if you set up a dial indicator and run it along the peak of the cam lobe, you can see that there's a taper from one side to the other. With a roller cam, you don't want the lifter to rotate, so the roller part of the lifter is ground perpendicular to the long axis of the lifter body and is completely flat across the roller surface. So if you take a normal flat tappet cam with tapered lobes and replace the flat bottomed lifter that rotate with roller lifters which don't rotate, in short order either the corner of the cam lobe will wear out or the roller will wind up with a groove on one side of the roller. Not good. Then there's also the fact that most roller cams and roller lifters are steel, and most flat tappet cams are cast iron, and the wear characeristics of the metals are VERY different and not particulatly compatible in an automobile engine. I'd love to see somebody make a hydraulic roller cam conversion for a Chevy 250, but no one does now, and probably won't ever do it in the future. There's just not enough of a market for any of the aftermarket cam grinders to do that, darn it. There ARE roller cams available for a 250, but they are all solid roller types and all-out race cams which aren't practical on the street. I think the Cam Saver hydraulic lifters might be the best way to go to keep your new RV cam happy, along with some oil additives. The Crower part # for their Cam Saver lifters for a Chevy Six is 66000X3-12(-16 for the V8 SBC). Let us know what happens.

Zeke,
Once again thanks for the advise and the extra effort.
I've got a set of 66000-12 from Crower. I was not aware of the hi lube 66000X3-12.
I'll e.mail tech and see if I can return the lifters and get the hi-lube ones. I've also determined to use Valvoline VR-1 racing oil, which has a large amount of ZDDP, from now on, and put a can of GM EOS in during break in.
It sure would have been nice if the Crower would have included this kind of information in the first place, it was available from their tech department but not in the box with the cam.
Oh well, I guess we live and learn.
Thanks for your expertise and your information.
Bill Boyd
Inliner # 1783

What is EOS? Sounds like an oil additive.

XEA,
It is an oil additive. It has zinc and phosphorus essential for flat tappet/engine break-in. I've done a lot of research recently and discovered that the new API approved oil standards got rid of zinc and other additives vital to older engines. They did this because all new engines have 1. catalytic converters and 2. use roller lifters. The zinc in the old oil could, over time, clog up and eventually distroy the cat. The rollers eliminate the need for zinc and phosphates.
EOS is a GM product still in production for older engines for an assembly lube and
break-in, some people add it to every oil change.
If you google GM EOS you'll get the part # 1052367.
I've found that Valvoline VR-1 (their racing and off road oil has the most ((I think)) ZDDP available except for maybe some diesel engine oils).
I am going to use the manufactures lube and EOS for the break in of my new cam and lifters and VR-1 for my oil from now on.
Bill
Inliners # 1783