[Fot] Lifter Reconditioning

[Bill Babcock]

I was being imprecise saying that a radius isn't proper--most flat  
tappets have some spherical crown, but it's a very large radius, and  
the best lifters I've found by far for wear on the cam and the lifters  
at high RPM (6800 shift point) are the ceramic ones I have in Peyote's  
two-year engine, and they have no crown at all--at least none i can  
find with a surface plate.

Unfortunately I can't find any more, and I hear they can suddenly  
break, but my experience is an engine run hard for two years,  
including the fourteen events of the All Aluminum tour, with  
absolutely NO wear on the cam and not a mark on the lifters.

I've seen tappets that have been reconditioned with radius that more  
like what you see with hydraulic tappets. I think that's a really bad  
idea. Given my druthers I'd rather have the completely flat.

On Mar 15, 2008, at 10:20 AM, John McCue wrote:

> That's not what the guys at Huffaker or APT say.  John
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Babcock" <Billb at bnj.com>
> To: "Larry Young" <cartravel at pobox.com>
> Cc: "FOT" <fot at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [Fot] Lifter Reconditioning
>
>
>> Larry, a crown isn't proper. They call these flat lifters for a   
>> reason--they need to be dead flat. The cam is designed to work with  
>> a  flat lifter. A crown will reduce the contact area and probably  
>> make  the lifter stop rotating. A pretty sure way to toast your  
>> lifters and  cam.
>> second, reconditioning lifters is pretty iffy anyway. These things   
>> need to be as hard as they can be. Grinding them without some   
>> hardening process involving vile chemicals known by the state of   
>> california to cause instant death and an alchemist is scary. What  
>> you  need--what we all need, is some very hard lightened lifters  
>> with very  flat non-chamfered, non-crowned faces.
>> On Mar 15, 2008, at 8:15 AM, Larry Young wrote:
>>> Can someone recommend a shop that reconditions lifters, i.e.  
>>> resurface
>>> the foot of the lifter with the proper crown?  I've seen a few   
>>> places on
>>> the web, but some seem rather expensive, e.g. Integral Cams  
>>> $11.70  each,
>>> Web Cams $5.00 each.
>>> Larry Young
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> http://www.team.net/donate.html
>>>
>>> Fot mailing list
>>> Fot at autox.team.net
>>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
>>>
>>> You are subscribed as billb at bnj.com
>> Bill Babcock
>> Babcock & Jenkins
>> Billb at bnj.com
>> 503.936.7660
>> www.bnj.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Fot mailing list
>> Fot at autox.team.net
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
>> You are subscribed as slugthemtrhd at suddenlink.net
>>
>

Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb at bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com