1986 L98 lifter question.

[Muskalade]

Does these motors use the roller lifters or the older style lifters?

 

[ecss]

87 was the first year for roller lifters in the C4.

 

[Edmond]

I think they're called flat tappet lifters, right?

 

[rrubel]

Yup. And they rotate in the lifter bore, while the roller lifters do not. Hence the need for the "spider" which holds down the dogbones which keep the roller lifters aligned... which is why it's non-trivial (or non-cheap) to upgrade to a roller cam.
[RICHR]

 

[Edmond]

But won't he have to buy those "retro fitted" roller lifters? Those are in the $400 neighborhood the last time I checked.

 

[rrubel]

*IF* he wants to run roller lifters, then his choices are:

1. Buy the set of retrofit roller lifters (which are tied together in pairs) at about $500/set (they went up). There are problems with these separating at high RPMs, I was told on "the other forum."
2. Have his block drilled and tapped to accept the spider (and possibly ground down for the dogbones)
3. Buy an 87-91 roller block and build up.

Not sure from his post if he was actually planning to DO anything...
[RICHR]

 

[Edmond]

Wouldn't the least expensive method to be just buy the 87-91 roller block? I think there are a lot of them out there.

 

[rrubel]

If you're planning to do a full build-up, yes... that's the route I wound up doing. However, if you don't want to pull the whole engine and do heads, etc, then the retro lifters are cheaper.
[RICHR]

 

[Edmond]

Rich,

Any idea on average life expectancy of the roller lifters?

I know that they can be reused.

Weird thing, my father says to me about the pushrods, "Don't change them unless you have to." Pushrods are about $100 for a set.

But he says to me about the roller lifters, "They're old, you might have to change them."

I'm like :confused

 

[rrubel]

Got me... In a normal application (ie, not racing), I'd expect the roller lifters to last the life of the motor. Pushrods, though, will wear at the rocker ends unless you have full-roller lifters.

[RICHR]