Keeping street lifters lubed

Hello Newbie here, question on keeping hydraulic and solid lifter feet alive on street driving duty, not just cruise in drvin but long hwy, I have seen a few tricks on google but what really works?

thanks,
to no zinc and phosphate.

lucas long drain truck oil

Lucas Long Drain Truck Oil 10076

15w40
it has 1400 ppm zinc. it is not expensive is more than the 1200 ppm many special oils have.
I run flat tappet solid cams in a couple engines and this works fine.
you can order from summit if you cant find it locally.

I have 40000 miles on one of those engines

We use notched lifter bodies on both HFT and SFT lifters. This entails grinding a .010" flat on the body from the oiling band 80% of the distance to the crown.
As the lifter travels in the bore and rotates this arrangement oils the cam lobes from the TOP down rather than relying on splash.  

My local cam grinders original owner Gerry was friends with the GM engineer that created this fix to alleviate lifter failure in the 2.8 v6 due to lack of splash on I believe the #6 exhaust lifter. Problem solved.
There are several manufacturers now doing this. "Cam Saver lifters" come to mind.
We've been using this mod since 1994.

This serves the same purpose as an EDM hole on a SFT lifter.

Break in specific oil with NO additional additives
Proper cam break in procedure is critical for longevity.
HR style oil for flat tappet cams after break in.

We usually recommend a switch to full synthetic after a couple of oil changes with "Dino" oil.

Cam failures have been rare. We are finding that additional additives in an already appropriate break in oil have caused failures during break in. More is not always better.

We have engines in service nearing 50K miles with this arrangement.



SJ

The Mad Porter wrote:We use notched lifter bodies on both HFT and SFT lifters. This entails grinding a .010" flat on the body from the oiling band 80% of the distance to the crown.
As the lifter travels in the bore and rotates this arrangement oils the cam lobes from the TOP down rather than relying on splash.  

My local cam grinders original owner Gerry was friends with the GM engineer that created this fix to alleviate lifter failure in the 2.8 v6 due to lack of splash on I believe the #6 exhaust lifter. Problem solved.
There are several manufacturers now doing this. "Cam Saver lifters" come to mind.
We've been using this mod since 1994.

This serves the same purpose as an EDM hole on a SFT lifter.

Break in specific oil with NO additional additives
Proper cam break in procedure is critical for longevity.
HR style oil for flat tappet cams after break in.

We usually recommend a switch to full synthetic after a couple of oil changes with "Dino" oil.

Cam failures have been rare. We are finding that additional additives in an already appropriate break in oil have caused failures during break in. More is not always better.

We have engines in service nearing 50K miles with this arrangement.



SJ

I have had excellent luck with this for the last 20+ years.

Keeping zinc levels in the oils I run to upper levels I have been doing, but now with a couple of rebuilds for my street rides I want to just keep it all stock.
I have even considered doing what nascar engine builders did before they could run rollers was to drill holes or add squirters from galleries to cam lobes, probably ends up being a massive oil leak. The cam saver lifters I have seen advertised.
What about grooving in the lifter bores themselves ?? it would it be constant oil to lobes ?
Thanks all for the input.

Kobelco wrote:Keeping zinc levels in the oils I run to upper levels I have been doing, but now with a couple of rebuilds for my street rides I want to just keep it all stock.
I have even considered doing what nascar engine builders did before they could run rollers was to drill holes or add squirters from galleries to cam lobes, probably ends up being a massive oil leak. The cam saver lifters I have seen advertised.
What about grooving in the lifter bores themselves ?? it would it be constant oil to lobes ?
Thanks all for the input.

I don't think you will be running anywhere near the spring forces that the NASCAR people were formerly running; 200 pounds on the seat and 575 pounds open.

Definitely comparing apples to oranges.

Kobelco wrote:Keeping zinc levels in the oils I run to upper levels I have been doing, but now with a couple of rebuilds for my street rides I want to just keep it all stock.
I have even considered doing what nascar engine builders did before they could run rollers was to drill holes or add squirters from galleries to cam lobes, probably ends up being a massive oil leak. The cam saver lifters I have seen advertised.
What about grooving in the lifter bores themselves ?? it would it be constant oil to lobes ?
Thanks all for the input.

You also have to remember that the Nascar engines are running a dry sump with the case in a depression. This dramatically cuts down on the amount of oil that's flying around inside of the engine so they have to put oil where it is needed or else it doesn't get there very much. If your spring loads are reasonable and you're running the proper oils I can't believe you'd have any problems with a normal lifter setup in a street engine. Think about the old high performance Ford engines that didn't even pump oil the lifters at all.

These will never run much more than stock spring pressure, street use ie go to grocery store, pickup CL deals, tow camper etc.. I am just thinking long term life for the cam\lifters...
Thanks for your input however I am trying to get these rebuilt and not have to do that again for another decade +.

DaveMcLain wrote:

Kobelco wrote:Keeping zinc levels in the oils I run to upper levels I have been doing, but now with a couple of rebuilds for my street rides I want to just keep it all stock.
I have even considered doing what nascar engine builders did before they could run rollers was to drill holes or add squirters from galleries to cam lobes, probably ends up being a massive oil leak. The cam saver lifters I have seen advertised.
What about grooving in the lifter bores themselves ?? it would it be constant oil to lobes ?
Thanks all for the input.

You also have to remember that the Nascar engines are running a dry sump with the case in a depression.  This dramatically cuts down on the amount of oil that's flying around inside of the engine so they have to put oil where it is needed or else it doesn't get there very much.  If your spring loads are reasonable and you're running the proper oils I can't believe you'd have any problems with a normal lifter setup in a street engine.  Think about the old high performance Ford engines that didn't even pump oil the lifters at all.

Pretty sure ERRBODY is running a cam tunnel also where the cam is bathed oil oil also.

Does anyone have first hand experience with grooving the lifter bores themselves? using a file or the comp tool??