J_D 2.0
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So I’ve been going down the rabbit warren of LS lifters on YouTube (as well as other modifications) and recently found out that you can run link bar lifters in the LS. Wouldn’t this be a far better option than the one that normally gets thrown up of standard LS7 lifters along with the usual crappy plastic trays?
In my mind the weak point of the LS lifter design is that the lifters rely on a piece of plastic to keep them straight on with the cam. The plastic trays seem to turn the inconvenience of a collapsed lifter into a catastrophe of the lifter spinning and chewing up the cam and distributing cam glitter throughout the engine.
If this is the case then it’s not really the lifters themselves that are to blame for the catastrophe stories we hear about whole engine rebuilds or complete engine replacement “because of a failed lifter”. The more accurate assessment would seem to be that the engine replacement is required because of a crappy plastic lifter tray, is it not?
If the lifter is forced to run straight by being connected to a link bar a lifter failure doesn’t have the potential to become a catastrophic proposition and can be rectified well before complete engine failure in my assessment. The worst that should happen is you throw a pushrod (a hard mechanical failure) and you rectify the problem rather than the current scenario of “I need to replace my entire engine for $10,000+ because it was squeaking”!
Correct me if I’m wrong but that seems to be my assessment of the situation.
In my mind the weak point of the LS lifter design is that the lifters rely on a piece of plastic to keep them straight on with the cam. The plastic trays seem to turn the inconvenience of a collapsed lifter into a catastrophe of the lifter spinning and chewing up the cam and distributing cam glitter throughout the engine.
If this is the case then it’s not really the lifters themselves that are to blame for the catastrophe stories we hear about whole engine rebuilds or complete engine replacement “because of a failed lifter”. The more accurate assessment would seem to be that the engine replacement is required because of a crappy plastic lifter tray, is it not?
If the lifter is forced to run straight by being connected to a link bar a lifter failure doesn’t have the potential to become a catastrophic proposition and can be rectified well before complete engine failure in my assessment. The worst that should happen is you throw a pushrod (a hard mechanical failure) and you rectify the problem rather than the current scenario of “I need to replace my entire engine for $10,000+ because it was squeaking”!
Correct me if I’m wrong but that seems to be my assessment of the situation.
