I broke down this week and ordered by Isky red zone lifters. I had a number of people recommend them to me as being the best. If you believe the adds they are and they should be.
They cost twice what a set of comps would run me. About $800 for the set but they claim to have a much improved oiling system, stronger roller and able to stand up to 1000 pound valve springs. My 550 pounds should be easy.
The cam and lifters were a touch over $1200, getting pricy but they were the last things beside gaskets that I need to buy before putting the motor in.
The short block as it stands , which is minus a oil pump and timing chain is $7400 so for about $8000 I should have a complete assembled 540.
The car is on stands and partially stripped. I can't wait for the winter project to begin.
After stripping the top end off the motor I will cut the firewall to make sliding the drivers head over the studs easy, clearing all obsticles for future tear downs.
The passengers head now is very easy to pull.
The existing short block is sold and I will deliver it as soon as I know how much to cut the firewall, make the cut, partially refiberglass it and then pull the short block.
I also bought a set of 3.55's and will install them for next summer.
I can hardly wait to start cutting and welding

 

Norval...have you seen the newer style ARP head studs with the allen head broach on the end of them? You can unscrew them from block with an allen wrench while heads are still in place.

This would allow you to pull heads without having to do a bunch of firewall work.

Maybe guy buying shortblock will throw in a little more for your old studs?

JIM

 

One thing to think about on the Isky's is that they make a street model that doesn't squirt as much on the cam/roller which can help keep oil pressure up at idle. The race models spray oil everyfrigginwhere and since a race engine runs at higher rpm's, oil pressure is rarely a problem. I got the street models, email if you're interested and I'll get a P/N. You can also talk to the techs at Isky and they'll fill you in.
Jim, I've seen and used those studs, as the kids nowadays say, they're the "bomb" and I agree, they'd sure make head work easier and require less firewall/fender mods.
That's gonna be some kinda badass when you're finished!

 

BADASS-I agree 1000%. Him being finished-HA he's just like the rest of us one project isn't really finished; it's just the first stage for the next project

ltlevil

 

Jim half my existing ARP studs have this allen head. I just like the idea of being able to just lift the head off without any fuss. The passengers head is really simple to lift off and I will make the drivers side just as easy.
At one time my tall valve cover had to be twisted to fit past the corner of the firewall. I cut it and gave it lots of clearance making valve cover removal a breeze.
I will cut the firewall, I really don't mind, I then will refiberglass it so you can't tell and then spray paint the whole area.
The cut comes in a good place and doesn't interfer with anything inside.
I picked up the lifters last night, don't look like anything special but I want to wash them tonight and test fit a couple and try checking for oil passage blockage.

 

I already got the lifters. They are the red Zone endurance. I see summit has boosted their american price from about $540 to $680.
I run a high volumn high pressure pump with a 10 quart oil pan and my normal hot idle pressure was 50 psi with a hole drilled in the block for pressure feed to the cam gear and another for the distributor gear and bushing.

 

I am actually thinking about quiting. Once I get the 540 running well I am just about out of projects. I have all the suspension work I can think off, roll cage, 5 speed, sway bars, big brakes.
My list is rapidly running out. I might have to just settle for driving it.
Honestly I love tearing it apart as much as driving it and look forward to the winter tear downs.
If I had to bring it out in the spring exactly as I put it away I don't know if I would get as much fun out of it as I do now.
Don't you think 19 years of tearing it apart is enough?????

 

L88PLUS I bought part number ISK-272-96-RH
Are they the right lifters?? No offset, stock length pushrods but have the heavy duty roller, rebuildable and I thought the good pressure oiling system??
Did I get the right ones. I will send them back if you can give me a better one. Thanks.

 

Why not post it in the thread?

 

We've recently finished testing a bunch of BB units on the dyno with Comp's new pressure-fed oiling system. Our spring pressures are in the neighborhood of 300# closed and 800# open (track units), slightly lower on our street units. Absolutely zero issues with respect to either the lifters or the oil pressure. We see much extended street use from these pieces.

I would just like to add a note here, many of the "mechanical-roller" lifter failures we've encountered over a some 40 year span has always come down to a spring failure first, then the lifter's simply follow.
We recommend to many of our customer to simply change the springs occasionally, don't bother checking them, just replace them. For many on a budget they should be checked occasionally. Much of the spring
"damage" occurs from long periods of "sitting" in the same position during the times that the car is not used.

I have a '62 Vette ("Super-Pro Performance" 355"-SB) runs around the N.Y. streets up here with the original Comp Cams solid-rollers installed back in 1990, that's when I did the unit. They are STILL in there today and we are leaving them as is! He's gone through numerous spring changes however. Car runs in the 10.30/10.40 range in street trim.
Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. Also on the positive side the Comp's can be gotten for somewhere around the $450.00 (or less) range. We've sold numerous sets up till now with not one return/failure. They've only released these recently under their own name. One of my long-time customers just returned the (new) Isky's and took the Comp's due to the price differential.

 

Top line quality Norval Isky or Crower for me. Did you look into the vast line of Crower solids? I bought their Hydro roller cam & lifters and am impressed with the quality. My wallet is in shock, but I sleep soundly at night knowing tiny bearings are NOT swimming through my bottom end.
Eddie

 

Thanks GOSFAST. I am still running my first set of comp lifters I got about 10 years ago. If I hadn't read on the forum that they could fail at any moment I wouldn't have changed them and just moved them on to the next cam.
My spring pressures are really low. About 200 seat and 550 open with low lift .632
I hope for a long life and every winter I back the rocker arms right off giving the springs a rest.

 

I bought a crane solid roller. I have already ran 6 cranes in the motor without a single problem and only switched to comp on the last change because Lingenfelter recommend that cam

 

I had a failure on the low priced Cranes Horizontal bar where the wheel bearing went and started bouncing, also destroying the billet cam lobe. I've since changed to the Crane pros without a problem. Have you tested any of these?

As to damage on the springs - to "Winterize" my Vette I hit every rocker lock nut with an air gun and release the spring pressure. I had also found that I lost @ 25# of spring pressure in about a year of running low to mid 600 lift. That is until I bought much better springs from Comp cams