Can anyone tell me if stock roller lifters can be used on a small base circle cam? And is there such thing as to much lift for stock roller lifters?

 

If you know the base circle dia and the lift of the cam you want to put in, you can figure it out. The problem might be whether or not the lifter would drop too far down into the bore when it's on the base circle, to the point where it would become disengaged from the retainer, or possibly that it could rise up too far when it's at peak lift and interfere with the retainer.

 

That is what I was wondering about. I was hoping someone had ran into this before and would have some figures.

 

If I had a roller block that's sitting around disassembled, I'd be able to figure it out and tell you.
But the only one I have is in use right now.

 

They fall out, very often.

Only way to know for sure is to dummy up YOUR STUFF and see what happens. The machining tolerances on the block, different cam profiles, etc. make it impossible to predict a speicifc case.

But you're well ahead of most people, to suspect the possibility of a problem ahead of time and ask, rather than just blindly slapping it together and then having to clean up the mess afterwards.

 

At one time here there was some discussion about this. I believe that Comp Cams wouldn't do a hydraulic roller with less than 1.050 base circle because the lifter would drop too far down in the bore, possibly coming out of the retainer. And, at that time I was changing mine so I did a lot of searching. .550 was considered the maximum lift so as not to lift the retainer bar off the block.

I have a CC 8-306-8 with .510/.540. I measured the base circle before I installed it and I believe it was slightly smaller than 1.050 but didn't write it down. Anyway, it works but any more lift I'd be raising the lifter retainer on the exhaust.

As RB said, the only real way to know is to mock it up and measure but that's hard to do if you don't have the parts.

Also, there was a hydraulic roller retro-fit lifter available for late model machined blocks that didn't use the retainers. Most I found when searching stated they didn't work in newer blocks without grinding because the link bar would hit the top of the lifter bore.
Two sets of solid roller lifters with link bar, Crowler and Comp Cams, would not clear my block without grinding the block.

There's a lot to sorting this stuff out but a lot of information can be found if you search enough. Problem is, some of it's incorrect and all of it just someone elses experiences with there parts.

For instance; I'm running a 3.75 stroke with Eagle LW rods and have had no clearance problems with three different camshafts, but some do.

 

would it hurt anything if the retainers were being lifted a little bit. Do you think it would severly shorten the life of the lifters or cam?????????

 

If you mean that the circular part of the lifter is making contact with the bottom of the retainer when it's at peak lift... Yes I would think that would be very bad.
I wouldn't want the lifter to come within maybe .040" of the retainer down there. cause when it's cycling up and down at 6000rpm divided by 2 for the camshaft reduction ratio, direct metal to metal collision can cause unimaginable things to happen.
I've never experienced first hand what the results of that might be. But maybe someone else here could tell you something more about it.
I'd say you're flirtin with disaster tho, if you let those two pieces get too close to each other.

 

Just curios- Has any one used .600 lift cam with stock roller lifters????

 

keep in mind there talking about LOBE lift not lift at the valve...a .350 lobe lift is .525 with 1.5's...a .400 lobe would be .600 lift


i know a few guys that ran CC 306 cams with 1.6 on stock lifters...with 1.6's the 306 is .578 .598

 

A CC306 (8-306-8) is .544/.576 with 1.6 rockers, .510/.540 with 1.5. I'm running mine with 1.6 roller rockers and CC850 hydraulic roller lifters, no rev kit, and turning 7k. No problems, but I also have 1.46 dual valve springs.

383Scott, I don't know of anyone running .600 lift with stock hydraulic roller lifters.

 

I was using the 306 last year. But I have bought a new set of heads and I would like to go just a little bigger. I have plenty of spring on the valves i was just worried about the lifters. I guess I will just have to measure when I get it all back from the machine shop. Thanks for your input guys.