who to trust for hydraulic flat lifters these days?

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volaredon

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Title question pretty much spells it out. If I can't find any "made at least 25 years ago" and have to buy more current stock, who's good, or at least "less bad"?
I have a set here that (I don't know why anyone would keep old used ones around) I bought from a swap meet, I know the guy who sold them, all he remembered was that "I've had them around forever". I thought I was getting some Direct Connection NOS ones but looking at the bottoms I can tell they've been used. someone did a cam swap and put the old lifters back in the baggies and the boxes and then on the shelf. I ain't putting them on a new cam.
I hear all the doom and gloom about metallurgy failures in newer lifters, and want to avoid that.... I do have some old stock oil that I can use for break in, from about the mid-late 80s.... and some new stock (I forget which) Valvoline that's supposed to be high in zinc. so i have that covered.
I found what seems like a deal on both Lunati ("Micro-trol" I think??) and old standby Sealed power.... are they still as good as they used to be? either of these any good? I am stuck between possibly 1 of 2 cams I have here, one brand new Melling stock replacement (for a bigger engine than the 318 I'm putting these into) or a used COMP 260, used for ~6k miles and my son paid extra for Nitriding/tuftride treatment when he originally bought it....

I don't want any pissing matches, because I'm doing what I'm doing with it, and many here might not approve.... too bad. It ain't your car.
No magnum swaps, no 360s, (LA or magnum) yes a set of fresh from the machine shop, 302 heads is in the mix.... BECAUSE ITS WHAT I HAVE!!! And I don't care that it won't be over 400HP, but it will run better than it currently does.... which is what I'm after.... just a little wake up, using some stuff I already have here.
 
new, i've had good luck with melling lifters, just the cheap ones from summit.

otherwise, i'll send out the old stuff and have it refaced.

just make sure to take apart and inspect/clean thoroughly and of course all the assembly lube/paste, break in additive, good oil, etx
 
I just finished breaking in a 340 flat tappet. What I did/used.......

-Used a Comp Cams XE262 cam with comp lifters and recommended springs. I checked each lifter and cam lobe with a machinist's square and light to confirm a crown.
-I test fit each lifter in it's respective bore to confirm they were not binding.
-When I installed the cam, I used copious amounts of assembly lube on the journals and lobe
-Lubed the lifters with said assembly lube after soaking them in my beak in oil (no pumping)
-Installed the lifters in there respective bores and marked them with a sharpie.
-Used a speed wrench to spin the cam and observed all lifters rotating.
-Once confirmed, finished engine assembly and filled with Comp Cams break in oil.
-Primed the engine with a drill as I slowly barred the engine over by hand. Observed oil pressure and flow to the top end.
-All lifters had pumped up with the drill.
-Fired the engine within a week of completion......2000-3000 Rpm for 20 minutes observing oil pressure and temp.
-Shut her down and drained the oil hot.
-Refilled with Lucas Hot Rod 10w30 and ran the sequence again once cooled.

So far so good. Hoping it stays that way :)
 
junkyardhero said:
new, i've had good luck with melling lifters, just the cheap ones from summit.

otherwise, i'll send out the old stuff and have it refaced.

just make sure to take apart and inspect/clean thoroughly and of course all the assembly lube/paste, break in additive, good oil, etx
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That's exactly what I replaced the high end Crower cam saver lifters in my Ford 400 with and they have been great. ZERO noise and they broke in fine. $4.99 each. Camsavers were over 200 shipped. Sounded like solid lifters when hot. Pissed me OFF.
 
I bought a Summit cam and lifter kit, and from the pictures the lifters appeared to be the same as the Melling ones. Glad to hear they are OK.
 
"Cam Savers"? Never heard of those. were they like Rhoads where they bled down more, to tame a too hot cam or did they somehow make up for a lobe that was going flat? (don't see how that could happen, a lifter aint gonna put metal back onto a lobe) or solve some other cam issue?
Anybody use those Lunati ones I asked about? I see those on Amazon cheaper than I did on feeebay, with free shipping even. and specs say they're supposed to be made in USA.
theres always the old Melling or sealed power etc "old standbys" I am pretty sure I don't want anything from Comp these days.
How much does it cost to have a set of old ones refaced? I remember that Oregon does that, it would be nice if someone quasi local does/
 
There's a guy on B Bodies that is selling old NOS lifters. Or, have them checked and resurfaced.
 
volaredon said:
"Cam Savers"? Never heard of those. were they like Rhoads where they bled down more, to tame a too hot cam or did they somehow make up for a lobe that was going flat? (don't see how that could happen, a lifter aint gonna put metal back onto a lobe) or solve some other cam issue?
Anybody use those Lunati ones I asked about? I see those on Amazon cheaper than I did on feeebay, with free shipping even. and specs say they're supposed to be made in USA.
theres always the old Melling or sealed power etc "old standbys" I am pretty sure I don't want anything from Comp these days.
How much does it cost to have a set of old ones refaced? I remember that Oregon does that, it would be nice if someone quasi local does/
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Naw. They are Crower's version of direct lube lifters. They have a flat ground down the side that allows pressurized oil right on each lobe. Mine started up and broke in fine. When the engine got to operating temp, it sounded like I had a solid cam. I did some online research and it's a common problem. The theory is the flats are too big and allow too much oil to bypass the lifter plunger and they bleed down when hot. At any rate, I put the $4.99 Melling lifters in it and it has been great. I got lucky twice. I broke a flat tappet hydraulic cam in two times in a row and had no damage. Been driving the truck over a year now and it's still quiet as a mouse and runs great.
 
volaredon said:
How much does it cost to have a set of old ones refaced? I remember that Oregon does that, it would be nice if someone quasi local does/
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the last set i did was right around $100 and that seems to kind of be the market rate.

but i'd have no problem running new melling or sealed power on anything below .500 lift
 
Look up Powell Machine on
You Tube. He has some vids about poor quality lifters.
 
junkyardhero said:
the last set i did was right around $100 and that seems to kind of be the market rate.

but i'd have no problem running new melling or sealed power on anything below .500 lift
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about the same money as a new set..... hmmm....
 
volaredon said:
about the same money as a new set..... hmmm....
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give or take, yeah.

i had an issue where i got jammed up time wise and couldn't get a complete set of either melling or sealed power from one supplier and was getting the run around on in stock/delivery timelines from everybody so it just made sense to send them out and have them refaced.
 
I've got a set from MP that came in a camshaft kit I'm not using. It was a .497 oval track hyd lifter cam and lifter kit...not sure the year? I'll dig the box out if interested. Bob
 
abdywgn said:
I've got a set from MP that came in a camshaft kit I'm not using. It was a .497 oval track hyd lifter cam and lifter kit...not sure the year? I'll dig the box out if interested. Bob
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Send him a pm.
 
Current sealed power lifters are mfg. in china , current melling lifters are mfg ln mexico
 
dogbreath said:
Current sealed power lifters are mfg. in china , current melling lifters are mfg ln mexico
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Not quite for Melling. From the Melling web site:

"Melling serves the global transportation original equipment and aftermarket segments and is noted for its world-class engineering, product development, and distribution capabilities. Melling operates 7 facilities, 5 in North America, 1 in Mexico, and 1 in Europe."
 
I called Schneider cams recently. They used to resurface lifters, but don't anymore. According to the gentleman I talked to from Schneider, hylift johnson lifters are pretty good and shouldn't require any type of surface correction.
 
mopowers said:
I called Schneider cams recently. They used to resurface lifters, but don't anymore. According to the gentleman I talked to from Schneider, hylift johnson lifters are pretty good and shouldn't require any type of surface correction.
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Here's what I wanna know. When lifters are refaced, WHAT is done with the plunger, spring and check valve? Just having an OLD lifter with a fresh ground face for 100 plus bucks? No thanks.
 
toolmanmike said:
Look up Powell Machine on
You Tube. He has some vids about poor quality lifters.
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I saw one of his videos a while back, where he said they had stopped regrinding cams and resurfacing lifters. The whole flat tappet cam and lifter debacle was taking so much shop time that they weren't keeping up with their other work like they needed to. I've heard they are a good shop. Especially to be in Iva, SC. That's barely a wide place in the road!
 
JDMopar said:
I saw one of his videos a while back, where he said they had stopped regrinding cams and resurfacing lifters. The whole flat tappet cam and lifter debacle was taking so much shop time that they weren't keeping up with their other work like they needed to. I've heard they are a good shop. Especially to be in Iva, SC. That's barely a wide place in the road!
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He seems to be very knowledgeable and experienced. I need to take a road trip up there one day.
 
JDMopar said:
Just cross the state line on I-85 at Lake Hartwell and hang a right. Iva's out in a pine thicket.....lol.
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I have family in Clemson anyway. In their 90s. This would give me a good reason to see them, too.
 
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