Seems to me , the lifters in the LS 2 fail more than I would have thought reasonable. Anyhoo , I have a bit of top end noise , that is annoying , more than tragic-sounding. The motor only has less than 33k on it , and has been standing a fair bit . I've changed out the oil for Driven LS 30 , and put a K&N filter in ,just to make sure the oil is as good as can be - it is now a known quantity . I intend to put in lifters, and check the rocker arm pivot trunnions in case these are a bit ropey . The car has the SLP ZL 465 kit, which has 1.85 ratio rockers. I have not looked inside the valve covers yet , so have not had a chance to examine the rockers , but if I am doing lifters, I may as well replace trunnions/bearings or any failed components within . Anybody know if the 1.85 rockers are available anywhere? I wondered whether they were appropiated from another version of LS? SLP have nothing , they informed me they were manufactured for them by Comp Cams, from whom I await a response to my enquiry.

Anyway , back to lifters.....I have seen folks mention LS 7 lifters as being good for an LS 2, are they by any chance the same? Are they a bit heavier-duty? Can anyone recommend any lifters that may be a bit more sturdy than stock , or should I just go for something like Melling stockers? What about lifter trays, whilst we're at it , are these a weak spot? Would linked lifters be a more reliable bet? I don't thrash the car ,it's not a daily -fat chance in the U.K. with **** weather and 12+ bucks a gallon and climbing ! At least for me 12 Bucks I can get 99 octane. Better start swiggin' it at this price, it's getting to be beer prices!!!

Thanx to all who may cast some light on this , stay safe , drive that 'Vedtte !

 

LS2 lifters are exactly the same as LS7 lifters.

Not a bad idea doing a trunnion upgrade but for the vast majority of cars, I don't think this is really a problem at all.

As for replacement lifters, a great upgrade over stock lifters are the Morel 7717 drop in lifters. Just be aware they spec a smaller pre-load 0.060 instead of 0.080 which is typical of LS7 lifters. There is also a Chevy Performance Race lifter but they are more expensive.

As for the lifter trays, anytime you are changing lifters you really should change out to new trays and they are so cheap ($20 for all four). The trays are not really a weak spot either. And I would recommend genuine GM trays. I have purchased Summit Racing trays and they just don't look quite as good as the real deal.

Now link bar lifters are an awesome upgrade but that's a big step in price also. But you really can't go wrong with them as long as it's a name brand.

 

Spaceme117;
Crikey! That was a quick response ! I could do with something to just drop in ,with stock pushrods, and such . If my car has the 1.85 rockers, I think the valve springs/retainers and stuff should have been changed to suit the rocker ratio . The car certainly perfrms as though something has been done, the main difference is at the top end, and contemorary test showed the peak H.P. at 5650 rpm. I don't want to get into figuring out pushrod lengths, seat pressures and all that malarkey, I don't have the time or facilities . Cripes , I don't even have anywhere under cover to work on it. The car lives outside. As for the cost of the linked lifters, that would not really be an issue, and the potential reliability gains would offset that , anyway. I imagined the LS 7 lifters wouls have been a bit tougher , and if so , and they're a drop-in proposition , then that makes them a serious contender.The ZL 465 kit is supposed to work with stock pushrods and lifters .I'm just in the process of getting al my options laid out , as I want to be sure of getting the correct parts first time, as everything will have to be shipped. If anything is not right for the job, it's a pain , it's not like I can jump in the car and scoot down to O'Relly's or such and change stuff! Hence my posting, and thankyou once again for the solid pointers you'vegiven me . It is appreciated greatly.

 

It is an ALL ALUMINUM engine you WILL hear things you don't in an IRON block and heads

 

Agreed, but this has deveoped over a few months ,and is more than the rustle of a well-adjusted valve train . At the moment t is at the 'embarrassing' stage, if left , I'm pretty sure it will get worse. A case of 'a stitch in time....' .I f a lifter has rotated, even slightly, it won't be long before it becomes a much more serious issue. For one thing, the lifter trays are now 16 years old. I'll post-up when there's more to tell.

 

Lifter failure is collapse from the internal spring failing.

Lifter tray failure is when the plastic tray does not keep the lifter from rotation, the wheel goes off axis with the cam, and it causes the roller and cam lob surface to be chewed to hell instead.

The stock lifter trays work well with stock amount of lift, but when you drastically increase the amount of distance that the lifter will be lifting in the tray, really need to sister the lifters together to prevent then rotation in the lifter tray. This is the reason on the LS motors, leave the lifter lift the stock amounts, and increase the valve lift via increase rocker ratios instead.


As for lifter trays, when the OEM is the best lifter tray to start with, not hope in hell finding a better one for higher lift lifters in the first place to keep them from rotating/will not just wear out the trays faster.

 

That's what I did with my LS3 engine ... I replaced the OEM 1.7 ratio rocker arms with full-roller 1.8 ratio rocker arms. Just by changing the rocker ratio, it increased the valve lift on both the intake and exhaust by .032"

My aftermarket supercharger cam is: . 220*/234* . .585"/.585" . 118 +4 LSA . -9* Overlap .(when 1.8 ratio rocker arms are used)

Again, with the 1.8 ratio rocker arm, my intake and exhaust lift is .585" with this aftermarket cam ... However, if I was to use the stock 1.7 ratio rocker arms, my valve lift would only be .553" on both the intake and exhaust valves (which is only slightly more than the stock LS3 cam lift) ... hence, easier on the valvetrain.


Attachment 48331316

 

I only have stock cam , stock lifters with stock lift . It it the rockers that have been changed for the 1.85 items in the SLP kit. Hoping that the rockers are O.K. , as replacements may not be available , I have not been able to find any, SLP or otherwise , at present. I am told that the trunnions are different to the stock items dimensionally, so unless an off-the -shelf needle bearing would cure any wear whilst the actual trunnions were serviceable, I might be a bit stuffed. I have had an interweb trawl for uprated lifter trays, to no avail , so may yet go with GM replacements if I don't fit linked lifters. All this is at the planning stage yet ,I have a local garage within a few hundred yards of where I live, the fellow there is big on American cars, having a good collection of his own , so it will most likely be him who gets the job. Would have liked to do it myself,but having to work outside, in crap U.K. weather, which has been extremely windy just of late, and only being able to do a day on, a day off at a time makes it a bit of a non-starter, alas.Anyhoo , the research continues . Thanx to all for the solid advice, it's all relevant and useful. Great stuff !