Big block lifter advice EZ ROLLER??

[dynaguy03]

I have a 582 in my newly purchased dragster.. i have gone thru the motor - valve spring tension- leakdown. all ok so far.
I belive this motor has around 175 passes on it... im told i should think about putting new lifters in.. as the BB is rough on lifters.. in the motor now are Isky Red Zone lifters.
I have a few people talking about ISKY EZ roller- lifters.. one friend of mine claims 500 runs on a set of Isky EZ roller lifters in his "big chief motor".
Does anyone have any experiance with these lifters? .. In the past i have used Morell, and Isky red zone.. What would make these EZ rollers better ..if they are.?
Any input -suggestions, comments would be appreciated.

thanks
Keith

[TopspeedLowet]

Isky EZ rolls do not have needle bearings to distribute in the engine when and if they fail like other lifters do. I have run them for two seasons now but I replace them every season and have them rebuilt by Isky for the next season. I have 360# on the seat and somewhere near 1068# or better on the nose with .920" lift using 1.8 ratio rockers in my 12 degree 582. I change them every season no matter what any one says because I own the engine and pay for the damage if I save $400+ by not changing them out, when I can send them in and get them rebuilt for half the new cost. I think that it is dollar stupid and penny wise to not replace them. My engine is worth more than my car chassis is so I respect my investment by using what I hope are the best products and change them out annually. I think that the EZ rolls are great so far. I run near 130 passes on them per season and have had no indication that they are unhappy in my engines environment yet.
Bruce

[BEAST477]

I am also running them with no problems. Not very many passes on them this season though. I also went with the .904 diamiter lifter. I had issuses that made it hard to race as much as I would've liked. I would buy them again.

[TopspeedLowet]

Beast just reminded me with his entry that I forgot to mention that I use the .941 bore lifters that require machining of the block to bush the lifter bores to larger than stock diameter. The smaller diameter bore that Beast uses in his engine are made with the same design and quality that I use in mine.
Bruce

[hammertime]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

[cepx111]

Heres a good read I found on the ez lifters.

"I pulled the new Crower HIPPO's out of my as yet un-fired brand new 540, and replaced them with newer Isky EZX bushing-type roller lifters, since they are more or less the only game in town for that type design. By all accounts that I've come across, these EZX's are much more durable than the needle-types, with respect to the needle/axle problem. So I'll give them a try, even though I really don't like some of their other design aspects. I suppose overall, they can't be any worse than the needle-types, and will hopefully be much better. But, unless those EZX's have better material being used for the rollers, than the basic Redzones, then they also can only last as long as the roller OD's, no matter how well the bushing/axles hold up.

For those who might be interested, here are some things I came across when installing those Isky EZX's in my Dart Big M block with its Comp Cams billet custom solid roller cam:

1. The diameter was larger than Isky told me they would be, thus reducing the lifter to bore clearance to less than I'd really like, but the motor was built already at this point, so honing the bores was not an option. It should be OK, but it is at the minimum, so it does concern me a bit.

2. The pushrod seats were about .040 higher than were the seats in my previous Crower HIPPO's, so I had to get another set of shorter pushrods to maintain the rocker geometry that I had ever so carefully setup with my AFR 335cc CNC heads. So, that cost me even more money, even though Isky told me there would be no change in that regard.

3. Isky's so-called high pressure bushing oiling holes are horizontal holes just above the axle, in the front to back direction, and do not get oil through a passage from the pressurized oil band up above like the Crowers and other lifters do. These Isky bushing/axle oiling holes hang below my lifter bores when on the base circle, where they get no oil at all half the time. Those oil holes will see some oil when they are up in the lifter bores, where there is some oil pressure, though restricted by the amount of lifter to bore clearance available. And they will also see a shot of actual pressurized oil during the relatively brief time (maybe 90* camshaft, give or take), when the holes reach the block's lifter oil galley at max lift. But the way the bushing/axle gets most of its oil, most of the time, is because there are oil holes above the roller, shooting oil onto the OD of the roller. The spinning rollers will throw the oil off and outward just like water off a spinning tire in the rain, but it hits the underside of the lifter body, and then comes back down the sides of the rollers onto the axle, where it can sort of work its way into the actual bushing/axle interface. Overall, I don't like this poor oiling design. Though it does apparently work well enough to get by. But, having the bushing/axle area get consistent fulltime oil directly from the oil band like other lifters do, would be far superior.

4. The lower thrust surface below the large oil band, is really way too short. It doesn't wrap somewhat around the roller like the Crower HIPPO's do, which is a much better design altogether. Some of the Isky's I took apart, showed excessive wear on that shorter thrust surface below that oil band. This is also an inferior design aspect that I don't like.

5. The precision outer diameter surfaces of the lifters were not machined high enough, which I didn't expect to have to look for originally, and so I had 3 lifters stick in their bores. All they had to do was machine about another .100 higher, and it would be no issue. My original Crowers were machined correctly, but the Isky's were not.

6. The one good thing I found with the EZX's is that the large pressurized oil band is lower than they were on my previous Crower HIPPO's, so they don't try to restrict oil flowing through the lifter oil galley like the Crowers would at max lift.

All in all, I was not very happy with my $1,000.00 Isky purchase."

[cepx111]

Another read.

"I had issues myself with the EZX's I bought. I didn't have any problems dealing with them on the actual purchase. But being told wrong about the actual size of the lifter diameter, had me seeing red, when assembly time rolled around. I was also less than thrilled with the quality of the manufacturing and design.
I sort of figured others might like a heads up on this before they drop a grand like I did"

[hammertime]

With all the lifter issues Isky had in the past ... I'll pass on them no matter.

They used to be named Risky's around here for a long time .. everyone went away from them to crower or morels

[Tod74]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

[hammertime]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

Not really ... my old lifters I sell are 100% fine when I replace them .. just cheap insurance. One guy still has a set I ran 2 yrs ago took them out after 200 1/4 hits, they are in a street car and work well :)


I run non pressure fed's also ..

[Tod74]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

Not really ... my old lifters I sell are 100% fine when I replace them .. just cheap insurance. One guy still has a set I ran 2 yrs ago took them out after 200 1/4 hits, they are in a street car and work well :)


I run non pressure fed's also ..

I guess if you keep an eye on the lash you are ok...but they cause too much damage when they break to risk used ones in my opinion. I screwed up a block that I have since found out was worth a lot of money to chevelle guys....December 1969 casting date 454. :(

[zipper06]

PBM/Morels. Crowers, Isky Redzone, they're all tough decisions. I personally like Crowers hipro, that is what i have installed in my new 434" motor. I have a set of Isky Redzones i could have used but they are not offset which i needed. I've used Crower a long time and have had very good luck with them, even before the Hipro with the oiling hole. There is something i've done for over 20 yrs.. It's no secret to a lot of people, it's something that been around for a number of yrs. but not talked about by the professional builders. Howard just introduced it on their solid lifter as a break thru, lifter/cam saver. They must have saw some of the lifters that i modified, or some one else with knowledge. On the top side of the roller lifter i grind a 1/16" wide flat from top to bottom of the lifter OD. that's about .003 depth on the OD. It oils the lifter bores and the rollers at the same time. I would not have posted this except Howards, placed an add in National Dragster, BOMBSHELL, BOMSHELL, break thru to make your cam and lifters survive with todays oil. If anyone doubts what i have just posted i have a set of used BBC lifters out in the shop with 150 passes on them and they look brand new and i can and will take and post pictures of them, the lifter od's look like they haven't been run and the rollers have no wear at all, neither does the cam, although only .730 lift which i can also take pics. of., with 275 lbs spring pressure at the seat and 800 lbs. open. With that said i have available to me in our shop a hole popper EDM which i could put the oiling hole in any set of lifters, but in my opinion the ground flat works just as good and oils the lifter bores. I don't have any experience with oversized and bushed lifter bores, only std size .842 bores. I know that the larger rollers are better, but the engines i build are for people on a low budget, including myself.

Zip.

[hammertime]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

Not really ... my old lifters I sell are 100% fine when I replace them .. just cheap insurance. One guy still has a set I ran 2 yrs ago took them out after 200 1/4 hits, they are in a street car and work well :)


I run non pressure fed's also ..

I guess if you keep an eye on the lash you are ok...but they cause too much damage when they break to risk used ones in my opinion. I screwed up a block that I have since found out was worth a lot of money to chevelle guys....December 1969 casting date 454. :(

I'd never buy used lifters but people want my used stuff for 100.00 by all means they can have them :)

[Tod74]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

Not really ... my old lifters I sell are 100% fine when I replace them .. just cheap insurance. One guy still has a set I ran 2 yrs ago took them out after 200 1/4 hits, they are in a street car and work well :)


I run non pressure fed's also ..

I guess if you keep an eye on the lash you are ok...but they cause too much damage when they break to risk used ones in my opinion. I screwed up a block that I have since found out was worth a lot of money to chevelle guys....December 1969 casting date 454. :(

I'd never buy used lifters but people want my used stuff for 100.00 by all means they can have them :)

The one I had break was a Comp Cams lifter...it also ruined the other lifter it was paired with...I put the other 14 on EBAY and told them it was a partial set due to a failure...and I still got $140 for them!! :shock:. I was honest and they bought them anyhow so it's on them if they have trouble...

[hammertime]

PBM's made by Morel here ..

Lifters are cheap insurance .. and I will NOT rebuild lifters ... sell the old and buy new :)

Sell the old and let someone else lose their engine... :o

jk. I lost one to a lifter failure so I am paranoid about it now...get the best ones you can afford, and no oil restrictors. jmo

Not really ... my old lifters I sell are 100% fine when I replace them .. just cheap insurance. One guy still has a set I ran 2 yrs ago took them out after 200 1/4 hits, they are in a street car and work well :)


I run non pressure fed's also ..

I guess if you keep an eye on the lash you are ok...but they cause too much damage when they break to risk used ones in my opinion. I screwed up a block that I have since found out was worth a lot of money to chevelle guys....December 1969 casting date 454. :(

I'd never buy used lifters but people want my used stuff for 100.00 by all means they can have them :)

The one I had break was a Comp Cams lifter...it also ruined the other lifter it was paired with...I put the other 14 on EBAY and told them it was a partial set due to a failure...and I still got $140 for them!! :shock:. I was honest and they bought them anyhow so it's on them if they have trouble...

Isnt it nuts !!! Unreal what people pay for used lifters ...

I'll run .. dance a jig and even skip to get away from Comps ..

[EJ48315]

http://www.dragracingonline.com/technical/2007/ix_1-pri/Isky-EZ-Roller.jpg

(EZ-Roller on the left)

[cepx111]

I know these ez rolls are the big do do right now but heres my 2 cents.

First off, easy roll? I seriously doubt they have the same friction reducing qualities of a 'true roller' in that aspect, the name is decieving.

Being a industrial mechanic, I seen bushings wearout all the time.
Anytime we can swap out a arcahic bushed set-up with a caged roller or cam follower, we do so, they last forever then.
I know some will argue, hey these are thick bronze bushings living in oil, still, they will wear 20 times quicker than any hardened roller bearing.

IMO> This is no cure all for the problem but rather a band aide and a small one at that. Great idea, just not the fix.

I personally like Zips idea better and will be doing that to mine this winter.


Perhaps the best thing to do is be proactive rather than reactive.

First off make sure the rocker arm geometry is perfect, use the correct spring rate for your cam and stay on top of your valve adjustments.
Make notes on valves that need constant adjusting, they're trying to tell you something. :shock:

Lastly spend that $1000 dollars you didnt spend on the ez rolls and go with a good shaftmount rocker arm set-up. :lol:

JMO>Cp