Comp Cams R lifters, any failures?
 

It seems allot of F Body guys have failures with the newest Comp Cams R roller lifters, #875's. From what I understand the latest batch, how far back they go, werent heat treated right in there retainer clips, and they tend to break. My questiuon is has anyone here had/or heard of any problems with these?
Is it cam choice, spring choice???
I just installed mine , and really havent put many miles on them, and they were adjusted to Comp Cams specific directions, which seem that they are set up loose.

ttt

Steve, I have two friends that had the Comp R lifters fail. One lost an engine. The first one happened a couple of years ago, and I believe the last one was last summer. They are both forum members, maybe they will chime in.

Mike are you thinking of Als car? That is the only one I know of that comes to mind. One also has to remember that the Comp R lifter requires a preload setting of 0 to .005" and this is after the engine is warm. If the lifter is preloaded to the normal OE spec of 3/4 to one full turn, then damage can occur and often does. The other aspect of these Comp R lifters is that they are noisier than any standard OE style hydraulic roller lifter.

TJWONG, I loaded mine per instructions from Comp Cams. It seemed really loose, but its there product.
I am just wondering whats been causing failures. I emailed about 20 different companies that use these products, and 5 replied no failures.
I think allot of it is set up, and rpm useage.

Yes, and Jim's GS.

what's the big deal with the lifters? Is it really common for the stock lifters to fail? Do the Comp R's have a lot higher RPM range or what?

Some people are noting the retainer clips breaking. I am tryin gto figure out why these lifters are starting to get a bad rap, on other forums. Is it springs? Too much rpm, what. I will pull mine to 6400rpm with Beehives and the XE 230/236 in my 396. Hopefully I will be fine, as mine were done per Comp Cams instructions.

i believe the damage occurs precisely when the lifters are adjusted close to zero preload. this is when the plunger tops out at extreme rpm, pounding on those retainers until they break. this is actually why the R lifters come with the bigger retainers, they just weren't hardened properly for some production runs.

i don't remember seeing anything about breakage when they were adjusted the "normal" amount. then it became an issue of some power loss at higher rpm, presumably due to pump up bleeding off some combustion pressure.

-michael

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...24#post3299124

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...36#post3299136
Just more data to help with this topic.

Sorry Steve, I just started a similiar thread. I didn't see yours.

Comp R lifter failure just recently took out my motor. I am pretty pissed. I am thinking it is from poor installation and incorrect adjustment, but now I am not so sure...

Our OEM's are only alternative?

Comp Cams claims they can rebuild better than stock on the latest ad they have out.
I read up on it today ,not sure that what they say is a fix for R lifters.
I have the bee hives and my rockers are clattering after about 6,000 miles.
2 and 4 seem to be the worst clatter.

Allot of the high performance engine builders I emailed did say OEM are just fine with the right spring, which the beehive is as it is light on the valvetrain, with its low spring pressure etc.
I am getting ready to lok into ordering some OEMs, which are about 200 bucks.

:iagree: I'm sure OEM's are fine for most applications; majority of parts failures in general are due to improper installation/adjustment. Comp does a lot of R&D, I'd have a hard time believing that all their lifters are junk. Granted, the more #'s produced the higher the number of failures

I've been running comp cams pro magnum R lifters for 4 years with no problems. I adjust them exactly the same way I do with stock lifters.

A friend of mine had a lifter come apart on him, I BELIEVE they were comp R's. This has been 2.5 - 3 years ago, the retainer didn't break it just somehow cam loose. The pushrod was still seated and the retainer was just floating there around the pushrod. That engine had a LOT of problems though so I would be very hard pressed to say if it was a lifter problem or the result of something else.

BTW on my engine I installed the comp lifters originally with my fairly weak, LT4 comprable springs. A year or so later I upgraded my heads to MUCH stronger springs, approximately 150 lbs seat pressure, and haven't had any trouble. The car is a daily driver and the lifters were installed some 32k miles ago. I drive the car fairly easily most of the time but in those 32k miles I have most certainly given it plenty of hell to cause a parts failure if it was gonna happen.

I have to think that maybe it has to do with the manufacturer? Shortly after I got my lifters there was a time when you couldn't get the R style. Rumor was that comp was having trouble with their supplier. I don't know if that is true or not, does comp actually make them or do they just sell them?

From the other forum post on this topic:
A memeber of the Camaro Z28 forum did this:
I emailed comp a link to this post and here was the reply i got.

"Any of our "R" series lifters are race lifters. The preload must be
maintained, when the lifter pumps up with oil it acts like a solid.
The people on these message boards complain about only getting 1000 or 3000 miles, turning the motor 6500 + and finding clips in the oil pan and
probably never checked the preload in those 1000 or 3000 miles. How
many pass's down a quarter mile does that equal to?? (750 passes) Most
racers with solid rollers replace or have there lifters rebuilt around 50-100
pass's depending on the application. Let me remind you this is a race
lifter. They are very picky on the .002-.004 of preload if that is not
there the clips comes out. Using a dial indicter when setting this
small amount of preload is the most accurate way. This needs to check
depending on how hard the engine is ran and how often. We will replace the
lifters with new lifters but only after the customer is told this very same
thing. Someone hit it on the head about using an OEM style of lifters
and these should use if the person does not want check or readjust preload
on a regular time frame. If they need a set replaced have them call our
tech line (800-999-0853) and get a return # (RMA). This is limited for a
term of 1 year from the date of purchase. Feel free to post on the board
and have them call our tech dept. when needing help or have questions."

This should be a sticky, as motor failure is ineviteable if done wrong.