Bleed Down to Solid Roller

[EllowViper]

Greg Good has a handy-dandy little conversion he does to convert the OEM hydraulic lifters into solid roller. When I inquired, he basically indicated for me to make a solid tool steel plug where the spring/check valve is located. Just finished up all twenty this AM and thought I'd share on this Memorial Day weekend. Very easy conversion. OEM lifters are a very simple design.

Basically pick up some 5/8 stock rod (.635 diameter) and machine down to .610 diameter. Cut length to .200 for the plug so you have .610 OD x .200 length insert. Pull the guts out of the lifter and bag the spring and check ball assembly leaving the long cylinder and shorter pushrod saddle. Put the plug into the end on the lifter, put the long cylinder on, and install the pushrod saddle on top of that (just like it all came out). Finally reinstall the spring retainer clip and you are done. When I talked to the Comp Cams guys on Friday about solid roller options for the Viper, they had none and confirmed that the mod Greg Good does is pretty common. Old School they call it and indicated that was about my only option for the Viper from what they could recommend. Here are the pics.

 

[EllowViper]

Just one clarification. The dimensions of the "plugs" I used are what I determined/calculated after all the calculations and fitments I did. Greg never did get back to me with his specific specifications...just FYI in case anyone thought these were Greg Good specs.

 

[jordan01GTS]

What do you gain by doing this, or is this something to do with a new can install

 

[EllowViper]

Going with a custom solid roller grind. Also from what I've been told, solid lifters on the stock cam gives you a lot more area under the curve as well. Like many things, no dyno numbers to verify stock vs. solid on the stock cam. Oh well.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Great info Eric

This mod isn't for everyone. When you get done with it, you'll need to give us feedback on the pros and cons so we can decide for ourselves.
I have a brand new set of lifters and a stock 708 cam that I can play with too It might be interesting to compare the difference you are talking about.

 

[EllowViper]

My shop/garage looks like a Viper gernade went off inside. Stuff everywhere right now. Rods are on back order until 10 Jun...but other stuff keeps dribbling in. Crank goes to the shop later this week for a polish and spin once the rods get delivered.

 

[Dom426h]

"Viper gernade". lol That just sounds cool. I remember a few years ago when i was building an autocross miata from a ******. I wanted to do everything at once so there was miata parts everywhere. Wish i still had that little F'er...

 

[EllowViper]

I guess I have a propensity for gernading things...literally. Torqued my back heaving the tranny up on the workbench last night. Gotta learn I'm not in my 20's anymore. By the way, with 10K miles on the LUX and Findaza set-up, it looked like new when I pulled it off. I was planning on a replacement during the rebuild but the way it looks, heck it will just go right back in and I can save a buck or two. Really no wear at all. I was surprised. I'll do the pilot, throwout bearing, and slave while apart, but the clutch set-up is good to go.

 

[ViperTony]

My shop/garage looks like a Viper gernade went off inside. Stuff everywhere right now. Rods are on back order until 10 Jun...but other stuff keeps dribbling in. Crank goes to the shop later this week for a polish and spin once the rods get delivered.

Mine looked like that when I had pretty much everything off the engine for heads/cam work. Then the new parts came in and just about every square inch of the garage had parts/tools. My wife would simply shake her head at me when she'd walk through the garage. She just doesn't understand...it's therapy for me.

 

[EllowViper]

Love your thread on your mods. Those heads are to die for...Works of art. Are those 2.02 and 1.60 valves in there? BTW, my cam just arrived this evening. Only took CompCams four days to grind and deliver it.