Video: Comp Cams – Hydraulic Roller Lifters Do’s And Don’ts

Hydraulic roller lifters have been a popular choice for engine manufacturers since the 1950s and are still commonly found today. Upgrading your hydraulic roller lifters is a great way to squeeze more power out of your motor in combination with a more aggressive cam and raising the rev limit safely.

One of the downsides to hydraulic style lifters is that they have very small oil passages and internals. These internals are extremely sensitive to foreign material blocking oil passages and possibly causing damage to the lifters and other engine internals.

Comp Cams‘ Billy Godbold has posted a video to their YouTube channel going over the basics of handling and caring for your hydraulic roller lifters before and during the install process.

Before you begin the install, it is important visually inspect your lifters for any damage that may have occurred during shipping. Once you have verified that the lifters are not damaged, it is recommended that you dip your lifters in mineral spirits or a similar solvent to remove any contaminants and the rust inhibitor the lifters are coated in.

After they have been washed in the mineral spirits, soak the lifters overnight in a high quality break in oil. This will allow the oil to thoroughly lubricate the lifters and penetrate the needle bearings, then you will be ready to install them.

Once the lifters are installed, it is important to check for proper clearances and resolve any binding, locking or added resistance in the valvetrain assembly. Any problems left unnoticed will put extra strain on the lifters and will cause premature failure. 

Once the lifters are installed and you are ready to button everything back up, it is important to clean the engine of any metal shavings, loose silicone or rag fibers. These foreign objects might block oil passages in your lifters before it ever sees the oil filter.Binding

 

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About the author

Kyle Kitchen

Born and raised in Southern California, Kyle has been a gearhead ever since seeing his first Mitsubishi Evo VIII in 2003. He is almost entirely self taught mechanically, and as an inexperienced enthusiast always worked on his own vehicles, regardless of the difficulty, just to learn how to do it himself. Prior to becoming a freelance writer for the company, Kyle started his automotive performance career with Power Automedia as a shop technician, where he gleaned intimate knowledge of LS platforms and drag racing builds; then later joining the editorial team as the Staff Writer for EngineLabs And Turnology. Today, Kyle is an experienced EFI calibrator; hot rod builder; and motorsports technician living in the San Jose area. Kyle is a track junkie with lots of seat time. You can usually find him racing his Mitsubishi Evo X in local time attack and road race events.
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