Want to buy MILD roller camshaft for 153/181 four cylinder GM/Mercruiser engine. New or serviceable used is acceptable!

PM me here!!

I'll bump this back up for another round.

Sorry this is an area of these engines I know nothing about. I'd start by contacting the companies that advertise flat tappet cams for these. Are you searching eBay? Used speed parts come up sometimes.

I made a tour of most of the top cam grinders about this time a year ago. NO JOY!! I'm figuring on making another run at it in a couple of weeks when I get paid. If I happen to stumble onto something, I'll have the cash to close the deal immediately. 12bolt Tom (tlowe) has a roller setup, but he's holding onto it!! I don't blame him, but I intend to annoy the heck outta' him 'til I find one or he gives in!!

Beater!! I know you have some 153/181 pieces. We've spoken before!! Help a brotha out if ya' can!!!

I'll keep my eyes open. Our local meeting is Saturday. These guys have a lot of stuff. I'll ask. A mild roller is probably rare.

Here is a link to a thread on the HAMB site. LINK
If it doesn't go to the right page the post is on page 4. This guy says that the hydraulic roller cam from a '87 Fiero 151 will fit a 181 Mercruiser block. If that is true it will fit a 153. I have never seen the cams side by side. I know all of these engines use the same timing gear set and the same cam bearings. I have a rebuilt 151 that is the later undesirable letter code. I forget what it is. N or R? It seems to have two distributer mount options. One in front like a 153 and one in the back like the 151 I pulled from a YJ Jeep. In the rebuilt engine I can feel teeth on the cam in both holes. Anyway this is worth checking out.

Because I can not post pictures here anymore I added two pictures to the link in the above post. One of a cam for a 153 and one for a 151.

Here's one on eBay. from what is said above I guess you'd have to use other roller lifters. 151 Roller Cam
Now this one is not roller is for a 151 but looks like the 153, one gear and fuel pump lobe. 151 Flat tappet

Thanks, guys!! I'm researching the 151 cams. I just read that. It reminds me of back 40 years ago when I was building 283s for the street!! The last three digits of the GM part number for the good, streetable, Chevy hydraulic cam was 151!! Full circle, huh??

The more I study, the more promising this looks!! It looks like the roller cam for certain Fieros and the Cameo S10/15 pickups will fit, but it's really mild. I looked at Lunati yesterday before I had to move along to other things and all they have are in the .600 to .700 lift range. I'm looking for a .510 to .525 lift with around 260 duration.

Like I said, I only got to Lunati and Comp/Crane yesterday. Miles to go....

Let us know what you come up with. it is interesting that the pictures show 2 types of 151 cams and one is the same as a 153. I think both would work. I have 2 151 cams here but they are both in engines.

What is the difference in a hydraulic roller and a solid roller? Are they both "better" than flat tappet? Why?

When I goT my Erson ground they knew they were about to move. Steve told me they had only about a half dozen or so blanks left, somer were roller. I should have bought them all! He would have given me a killer deal.

I had a great conversation with the folks at Schneider, back when I first started this escapade. They can regrind and restore camshafts and I plan to call them on Monday.

I'm wondering if a new stock 151 roller cam will have enough material to allow them to regrind to the profile I want.

Beater!! Do you still have a contact at Erson?

Sadly no. The guy I sat down with when they were in Carson City (Mound House) Nevada was Steve Tanzy. When they moved east he didn't go with them. It was a very friendly operation here and very into custom one off grinds. Their cam grinding machines were converted from crank grinders. They used profile plates and could grind any profile in any position on any cam. The machines were operated buy a real person. I don't think any of that made the move.

The Schnider Idea might be something. Who else is left?

I'm posting the latest results of my research. I'm NOT through yet!!

According to my latest queries, the later model roller camshaft used in the "Iron Duke" engines that came in the S10/FWD vehicles is indexed slightly different because of the slightly different, splayed valve configuration of the crossflow head. THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD!! I haven't as yet been able to lay an original camshaft and one of the roller camshafts side by side and actually measure and confirm for myself.

The quest continues!!!

I'll look for a late roller. If I have to I'll pull one out of an engine, I hate to because what comes apart stays apart. I think searching Super Duty links might turn up something. Possibly a new roller blank for a 151 could be found and ground to specs. Then there is always the crazy hot rodder who'll say,"Hell I can do that, bring the beer."

I've e-mailed my latest escapade to Beater already, but for the rest of you, I've contacted a cam grinder in Canada that says he can't tell the difference in the lobe indexing for sure, but that he doesn't think they changed the angle of the lifter bores.

He doesn't have an example of either cam on hand. Tom! If you'll pull that roller and compare 'em side by side, I'll buy the roller from you!! Rather that you profit from it than spend the money with somebody else.

I put in a call to Kansas Racing Products. They're the folks that bought the rights to the Pontiac Super Duty/Iron Duke/TechIV. I'm hoping they can give us the last piece of the puzzle.

Have two 151s. One is an 80-81 "N" ? code rebuilt long block. The other is a running from a '80 Jeep YJ. I don't know if they are Rollers or not and I don't want to take them apart. I'm not sure they are what you want. I've been on a lot of 151 sites in the last couple of days and i'm confused.

I believe the distributor drive gear is in a different location for the 151 engines. Or at least the later model ones.

You are absolutely correct, sir! But they all have the front distributor gear as well. They DON'T have the fuel pump lobe. The later ones used an electric fuel pump to feed the electronic fuel injector.

Perfect Circle 229-1708 camshaft fits the last of the 153s and the first of the "Iron Duke" 151s!! It's a flat tappet hydraulic unit, but it proves that the two blocks were siblings at first. Unless GM moved the lifter bores or changed the angle of the bores, the possibility of interchangeability is greatly increased.

Tlowe!! A thought just crossed my mind, (I know!!Everybody duck 'n' cover!). Do you, by any chance, have an Iron Duke camshaft from an '86 or later model?? We could compare it to your 153 roller cam, (which I'm still lusting after) to check lobe placement and indexing!!

The nice fellow from Kansas Racing Products just called. He says that to his knowledge, the lifter galley in the "Iron Duke" was NOT changed. He told me that their version of the Super Duty block has been changed to allow the application of Chevy small block, Roush Ford, and their own in house SD head.

The plot thickens again!!

Still looking for a hydraulic roller camshaft for this little engine!! Max lift around .540 but I CAN have something close reground!!

I'm bringing this thread back to the top 'cause I'm STILL looking for a roller cam for my 153 project!!