Hydraulic roller cam question
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,007
Likes: 2
From: Obscurity's Armpit
Hydraulic roller cam question
I'm considering dropping the GM Hot Cam into my 80/ZZ3. Is it mandatory to replace the factory roller lifters with new ones? (They don't come with the Hot Cam kit). I know why it's necessary with flat tappet cams, but didn't know if rollers develop wear patterns.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,116
Likes: 156
From: Mid West
Cruise-In III Veteran
Not sure what the recommended practice is, but I didn't see a problem doing this in my ZZ4. Engine had about 10k miles on it when I swapped in a used GM Hotcam that also had about 10k miles on it from my friend's engine (it wasn't big enough for him 
). I reused the original lifters and everything is still running fine after another 5000 miles over the last two years.
). I reused the original lifters and everything is still running fine after another 5000 miles over the last two years.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 11,361
Likes: 383
From: Plano TX
That's one of the great things about roller lifters. You can change cams as much as you like and keep the lifters. Only reason to replace lifters would be if you have a lot of miles on them (100K+).
