For someone who's on a low budget, when rebuilding an engine is it alright to keep the stock cam and just replace the lifters?? The engine ran fine before but was neglected, major sludge buildup. The lifters are worn but there was never a problem with the way it ran or noise. I know that when you reinstall the cam and lifters they all have to go back together the same way because of how they wear but would installing new lifters with a worn cam cause problems or would it actually help a little??

 

I suppose you could but there would be NO point whatsoever. Unless a lifter is collapsed or something, leave them alone too. They way to go is replace the cam and leave the lifters...not vice versa.

 

What year is the Camaro, and what engine do you have along with what setup?

 

if your lifters show wear then your cam is trash too replace them as a set

 

Its never a good idea to replace one or the other. Either put them both back in (assuming you know which lifter goes with which cam lobe) or replace them both.

 

ya, if you lifters show wear you gotta replace cam and lifters. if they look fine just keep them all in order and don't replace em. if you don't have a roller cam, you can pick up a new one with lifters for like $100 from comp or crane. good luck bro, and if you need any help let me know.

 

Assuming this is the engine in the sig, so 91 = roller lifters. All responses below assume that. Rollers don't like sludge, but build-up rarely occurs where it'll hurt them.
How do you know they're worn if there's no noise and no problems?
Not really an issue with roller lifters. What you say applies to flat tappet, except that you don't want to put new and old flat tappet parts together, no matter which is old or new, because of previous wear.

 

no it's not out of my 91' Camaro. Thanks for the replies, that's sort of the response I was expecting. I guess I'll replace both.

 

The reason I asked is because I work at Summit Racing and could get you a price and part number. I'll have to get back to you on Monday though, if you want I could give you a name of someone that could help you if you don't want to wait...

 

It helps when specifics are supplied.

But, now you know: flat tappet means replace both cam & lifters. Cheap these days.

 

aside from rebuilding an engine. What if you have a flat tappet that's making noise is it alright to replace the one or should you replace all??

 

If it's a hydraulic flat tappet, you should replace them both. If you only choose to replace one and not the other you will definately run into problems and in the long run have to replace them both anyway.

 

the reason I ask is a friends car has a noisy lifter but rather than replace the cam and all the lifters I just want to eliminate the noise. Plus the fact that he doesn't want to pay to replace everything. Noisy lifters are usually due to sticking right? Rather than replace the lifter with a new one would it be better for me to just take that specific lifter apart and clean it out. Isn't varnish build-up usually the problem when lifters start making a noise??