The 305 that came with my Camaro has one piece rear main seal. It's a flat tappet block, but I'm curious about the possibility of roller lifters. On the oil gallery, there are two raised bosses that make me think that 2 of the 3 bosses that support the "spider" retainer piece were cast into my block. Is this possible? Can I tap them and use the factory GM roller kit?

 

In theory yes. I've never done it myself nor inspected a candidate block for it so take my words lightly. I'm sure it's been discussed multiple times, google search it. You'd also need to check behind the timing gear for the cam retaining plate that would need to be added for a roller cam. I'm not sure if a cam button works on non-retrofit cam.

 

The block does not have bosses for the cam retainer plate, unfortunately. I've been searching around, and I've seen some of the different options which are pricey and hardly seem worth the money. It's alot cheaper to stick with a mild flat tappet cam and use the appropriate oil. Just thought it was curious that an '86 block would have some of the roller lifter casting, but not all.

 

If it were me, I'd try an dig up a good 305 roller. They're often complete and dirt cheap if not free.

 

This car will likely be driven 5K miles or less a year, mostly a fun weekend car. Is there any reason to worry about roller lifters? It came with a carb, I'm currently leaning towards swapping it to TPI. Probably use a mild cam.

 

With as much flat tappet failure recently roller is the only way to go.

 

FWIW, there are literally thousands of engines assembled every year with flat tappet cams. And these engines will far exceed the duty requirements of a 5000/year mild performance daily driver.
If the step to a roller cam is outside of the budget, source quality lifters and a properly designed cam, use the correct spec spring and you're off to the races.
Don't forget quality oil either.
As a source of info, check out Jones Cams. He sells hundreds of packages to the local circle track crowd (among others) where flat tappets are the rule.


​​​​​http://jonescams.com/

There are also other suppliers.

 

Just for the record Tuned, I'm roller all the way myself. So much so that I'm going to fork out a lot of bucks to get the best USA made cam and lifter package that I can.
But if the OP is on a budget, or even just wondering, flat tappets aren't necessarily the scourge of all things hot rodding.
There are a couple of US flat lifter manufacturers kicking about that have solid reputations. Combine that with a known quality cam core and good oil and worries should be few if any.

 

Little bit of info on my project. During the last couple years, I've had the goal of LS swapping the car. I had a 6.0 block machined, 243 Vette heads, new everything, LT headers, LS6 intake and the list goes on. But I started automotive tech school a year and a half ago, and haven't had the money to continue it. Honestly, I'm just not in love with the idea of engine swapping anymore. I don't need the power, because I have no plans to drag race or do anything aside from drive on the street. Between that, money and having more interest in a period correct engine build, I believe I'll be selling my LS stuff off soon.

Anyway, I'm more than happy to track down a roller block and get everything done the better way! Just curious about all the ins and outs. Reliability is definitely worth the investment now rather then worrying about flat lifters in the long run. Thanks!

 

Just get link bar hyd rollers and skip the machine work trying to adapt the spider system etc. or yeah find a roller block and at that point might as well go 350 lol

 

I find everything about a flat tappet a waste of time these days. 'Break in' that can go bad. Mor money on specific oil so you don't lose lobes. Flat lobes even with the right oil. 'Worse' lobe profiles. All because they're a little cheaper. No thanks. The factory ditched it 30 years ago, I see no reason to save a few upfront dollars.
With the OPs project in mind, I wouldn't bother with a 305 at all unless I'm being as frugal as possible. Roller 350 will only be marginally more expensive and brings 45 more ci even without upgrading anything. I wouldn't bother with TPI either. Probably gain midrange but you'd lose top end. A quadrajet will do what you request, especially if being frugal. Really depends on what you want to do and what exactly you're starting with but tpi and flat tappets are just money spent on something you'll likely change or have issues with.

 

While dropping a flywheel off for resurface at the same shop that did the work on my 6.0, I spoke to the gent that owns the shop about some options. His shop has been around for 50 years, so he knows his stuff. He reminded me that flat tappets are OK, but if/when they go, so does the rest of your motor. We also spoke about link bar roller lifters and how spendy they are. He said that if I can find one locally, to definitely get a roller lifter 350, but the pickings are getting thinner.

I certainly don't mind sticking with a Quadrajet or a carb in general. Are the CC Quadrajets okay for a 350 with a mild cam? The QJ that came in my car was trashed. The car was a barn find with 130K, and the mice there sure loved the HVAC system and the top of the motor. Mice **** sure isn't very good for carbs I took it apart for rebuild, and practiced with a rebuild kit, but ended up tossing it afterwards.

The car has a 700R4 with 30K on a rebuild per the PO. That, and I rebuilt the diff in Power Trans class with a 3.43 gear and LS. Should be pretty fun!

 

Lunati has a pretty neat option here for a retrofit kit: https://www.lunatipower.com/street-m...k-276-284.html

How is the reliability of the link bar lifters? I've seen reviews on the Howard ones being pretty noisy.

 

Anything will fail if you lean on it hard enough. Below are what remains of my COMP tool steel short travel lifters. It's difficult to say exactly what happened but it appears a link-bar rivet let go. RPM and end of service life are probably the causes.
But by and large, we've had tens of thousands of trouble free miles racing and cruising using the retro-fit lifters.




As for noise, the lobe profile is the biggest contributor. I ran the same set of lifters with an off the shelf COMP XR276HR and also with a custom grind using COMP's XFI lobes. The XFI cam was noticeably noisier.

 

The conversion has been done many times on truck blocks. You need to drill and tap for the spider plate. You'll need the 'dogbones'. And you'll need EIGHT roller lifters from a 60* V6 like the 3.4.