BAM would be my first choice.

 

Jesel

 

Out of the Today's current lifter manufactures, BAM, Isky, Crower, Morel. Who has the Best .904 diameter? This is a typical BB Chevy 565 build with a single carburetor and conventional head. Cam core diameter will be either 55MM or 60MM. Engine builders, what is the current trend in rock solid .904 roller lifter? Tie-bar or keyway? All personal experiences are welcomed.
Thanks for looking,

We seldom use .904" lifters, no more effort to go to .937" with the .850" wheel unless your block is already prepped for .904". If the budget is a consideration, the BAM DLC stuff is a great value and has been indestructible for us, again in the .937" configuration and we have used some of their .875 DLC lifters with no issues. The BAM is a tie bar only.

No issues so far with the tie bars on the BAMS but any tie bar can fail if abused, a dog bone or keyway will alleviate that concern. I know you are asking about DLC but if the budget is not limited, I believe the Xceldyne lifter(needle bearing) is the finest product we have seen and historically only available in .937" keyway.

 

We seldom use .904" lifters, no more effort to go to .937" with the .850"

I hope that I'm not being rude nor disrespectful to Ron by jumping in here, but I want to ask a question about this^^ comment above^^....some business owner and vendor on the Chevelle board just told me in a private message that if I have my Iron tall deck Merlin III block machined for .936" lifters, then I'll need to get a camshaft with NARROWED lobes to avoid the .936" lifters from slamming into the edges of the adjacent lobes from the opposite cylinder bank. Is this true? Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see what difference it makes which cylinder bank any given cam lobe is intended for. Because I'm measuring .600" from the center of any given lobe to the edge of the adjacent lobe on one of my BBC solid roller cams. So it seems to me that the lifter body O.D. would have to be close to 1.200" or more in order to make contact with a neighboring cam lobe.

Again, if I'm all wrong to interject here with this question, I invite a moderator to delete this post, and I'll start a new thread, or anyone here can correct me, and I'll delete this post myself and start a new thread. But I thought that perhaps the OP might also be interested in hearing the answer to my question in light of the comment I've quoted above.

 

Isky EZX or BAM

 

We have used 1.031" OD bushings for this reason, Precision Products in Arden NC can make anything you need from Ampco 45 material.

 

The NASCAR teams have most engine programs only wish to have access too. The only 2 name brand manufactured lifters that have proven over time they could last in in the NASCAR engine programs are Jesel and Morel. Both have facilities and machine, heat treat, grind, and assemble in house. Both have been in business for decades.

Morel developed the bushing lifter over 30 years ago. They have now replaced it with the latest technology of no needles and not bushing to wear out.

 

Morel developed the bushing lifter over 30 years ago. They have now replaced it with the latest technology of no needles and not bushing to wear out.

View attachment 447104

Do we have to go this again and end up trashing yet another lifter thread ?
Morel did not develop the bushing lifter it had been around for most of a century . Same as they did when they used existing tech with the steel on steel axle lifter . Why don't you pay for some advertising and stop flooding the tech forum with your spam .

 

^^ Except for the ones made in Mexico, right?

 

Its Jesel and then everyone else. The Jesel .937 keyway is pretty much the industry standard for higher end drag racing engines. The only reason some dont do it is they dont have the 5k to spend on it.

 

US5127374A - Valve lifter - Google Patents

An improved pin for supporting a roller cam follower for use in an internal combustion engine block used in a high speed motor vehicle having open-ended cylindrical bores in which valve lifters reciprocate, a cam shaft with cams that reciprocate the lifters, and an engine block oil passage...

patents.google.com

 

I looked at the patent , looks like it is for a way of positive oil delivery the roller axle , no where does it patent the use of a bushing in a roller lifter as your free ad for morel originally claimed .

 

There is a reason that Jesel makes these....

Now if you have a good relationship with your cam grinder and you tell them upfront your using .936" lifters, they can narrow the lobes up on the camshaft so that there is no possibility that you will have any issues with lobe interference. This will vary with core size, lobe size, and other factors. With going ahead and narrowing the lobes you don't need the cutaway style lifter as shown above. If anyone want to call someone like Howards or Bullet Cams to verify that narrowing of the lobes is "Real" and that as long as you note it when ordering the cam they will do it, the thread will have more "real" data" posted.

Glenn Steyers told me he started having the grinding shop at Crane narrow the lobes decades a go when working with Sonny's. RIP my old friend Mr. Steyers.

 

My Jesel .937 lifters don't have a narrowed body..

I'll see if I can take some lobe measurements as I have the manifold off at the moment.
I'm sure I have a cam laying around for a .750 wheel I'll get measurements from too.

 

Chris, those lifters you posted most likely have a body diameter bigger than 1"

 

Correct.
I'm thinking they moved the wheel under the offset p/r cup. Has nothing to do with lobe clearance unless lifters are moved. I've never seen a Morel .937 keyway with any side clearance like that.

 

I just took measurements of the lobe width of three of the BBC solid roller cams I have, (two are Lunati, and one is Comp) and all three have .630" wide lobes

 

I'm trying not to take sides here, but I have to give credit where it's due by making mention of the fact that Eric Bolander from Howards cams told me today that he HAS had .936" lifters that made contact with cam lobes

 

In a BB Chevy?
IMO there's a BIG difference between someone suggesting that this might be a possibility and you might want to check on it, and someone telling you "(you'll) need to get a camshaft with NARROWED lobes to avoid the .936" lifters from slamming into the edges of the adjacent lobes from the opposite cylinder bank" if those are actually his words. That sounds like someone trying to scare you into buying amore expensive cam instead of just being helpful.

 

If the cam walks you can make contact with .842 lifters .

 

Just measures a cam for .937 and ..904 lifters and both had .630 wide lobe.

Both Bullet cams

 

I've had .875's in fords make contact, should I run .842's in my fords?

 

Turn em down to .750 just to be sure. Get custom bronze bushes made.😁

 

55 and 60 mm cams.

I'm wondering if the bigger cam cores have narrower lobes, since they're intended to be used with .937+" lifter bores AFAIK. I understand that it's ideal to use the bigger cam cores with the .936" lifters to take full advantage of the performance gain potential, but FWIW here's what the tech guy Eric@Howards Cams said to me in his e-mail....

"I have had combinations where the .936 lifter has hit the neighboring lobe and generally the bigger lift blanks that have lobes big enough to warrant .936 lifters are narrower."

 

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I measured 3 cams today and all had a .630 wide lobe. 2 x 50mm one for a .750 roller and one for a .810 roller. The last was a 55mm for a .850 roller that had a .5250 lobe.

You worked it out in your first post.

Don't over think it.

 

You need the notch in the lifter when you start to offset the lifter bores for better PR geometry. Lifter bore location limits port width/shape/area. When you offset the lifter bores + run larger lifters you need the notch on the lifter and narrow lobes. The lobes are offset on the core towards the bearing bulkheads. This is what allowed the room to run 9 cam bearings. Our lobes are only .430 wide, and we run the dual torrington bearing thrust setup on cam hubs so cam endplay is .001-.002.

 

Lifter contact issues? What is that?

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Sorry... had to lighten up the mood... 😆🤣😂