Anyone that has ran flat tappet cams knows the importance of good oil and getting that oil on the cam lobe.
Comp cams has had a tool out for a long time that grooves the lifter bore.
Some V6 GM lifters have had a groove machined on the lifter body and Crower makes a lifter called a cam saver lifter with a groove down the side below the
oil groove band.
Some people go the path of EDM hole in the face of the lifter.
And then some of us figure out a way to make a groove in the lifter bore without the buying the specific tool for the job.
I did just that a couple days ago.
I usually build odd ball tools and do my own stunts
I really hate buying a tool for something simple.
I took a new Lenox 18 TPI hacksaw blade and some electrical tape and attached 2 arc welding rods down the sides of the blade to stiffen it.
Easy as pie to cut the grooves in the lifter bores in my SBC engine.
Less than a minute per hole.
After 12 holes the blade was a little dull as only a couple teeth are doing the majority of the cutting.
I snipped 1/2" of the end of the blade off to get some fresh teeth for the last 4 holes.
Really was not any high spots but I made a wooden dowel and wrapped 600 wet sand around it and slicked up the lifter bore about 8 light strokes and then went to 1500 grit.
The groove should not come to the top of the lifter bore if you are doing this you probably are mechanically inclined enough to know that.
I stopped the groove at the top of the oil feed hole in the lifter galley.
This groove also needs to be positioned to allow the oil to spray out of the groove onto the cam lobe as the lobe is rotating towards the lifter.
I have been running crower cam saver lifters for 10+ years and I have not had any fail but as we know supply has hit all markets and good lifters are hard to get.
I have removed some older good lifters from engines I have taken apart and I recrowned the lifters with a little more taper added to them to allow them to spin even easier.
No groove cut in the side of the lifters and the Groove cut in the bore is better as far as my research has led me to believe.
Comp cams has had a tool out for a long time that grooves the lifter bore.
Some V6 GM lifters have had a groove machined on the lifter body and Crower makes a lifter called a cam saver lifter with a groove down the side below the
oil groove band.
Some people go the path of EDM hole in the face of the lifter.
And then some of us figure out a way to make a groove in the lifter bore without the buying the specific tool for the job.
I did just that a couple days ago.
I usually build odd ball tools and do my own stunts
I really hate buying a tool for something simple.
I took a new Lenox 18 TPI hacksaw blade and some electrical tape and attached 2 arc welding rods down the sides of the blade to stiffen it.
Easy as pie to cut the grooves in the lifter bores in my SBC engine.
Less than a minute per hole.
After 12 holes the blade was a little dull as only a couple teeth are doing the majority of the cutting.
I snipped 1/2" of the end of the blade off to get some fresh teeth for the last 4 holes.
Really was not any high spots but I made a wooden dowel and wrapped 600 wet sand around it and slicked up the lifter bore about 8 light strokes and then went to 1500 grit.
The groove should not come to the top of the lifter bore if you are doing this you probably are mechanically inclined enough to know that.
I stopped the groove at the top of the oil feed hole in the lifter galley.
This groove also needs to be positioned to allow the oil to spray out of the groove onto the cam lobe as the lobe is rotating towards the lifter.
I have been running crower cam saver lifters for 10+ years and I have not had any fail but as we know supply has hit all markets and good lifters are hard to get.
I have removed some older good lifters from engines I have taken apart and I recrowned the lifters with a little more taper added to them to allow them to spin even easier.
No groove cut in the side of the lifters and the Groove cut in the bore is better as far as my research has led me to believe.
