- Home »
- Catalog »
- Valvetrain Components »
- Lifters »
- Hydraulic Roller Lifters
Hydraulic Roller Lifters
Pontiac V8 Hydraulic Roller Lifters
Roller Cam in a Non-Roller Block — Hydraulic Roller Lifters for Pontiac V8s
Hydraulic roller lifters let a Pontiac V8 that was never built for a roller cam run one. A retro-fit roller rides the lobe on a wheel instead of dragging a flat face across it, which cuts friction, lets the cam use far more aggressive lobe profiles than a flat tappet allows, and takes the flat tappet break-in risk off the table entirely.
Butler stocks retro-fit hydraulic rollers from Johnson Lifters, Morel, Hy-Lift Johnson and Comp Cams Evolution, in reduced travel, short travel and standard travel versions, with and without pressure pin oiling. Every one of them is a .842" Pontiac tie-bar lifter.
Browse Hydraulic Roller Lifters Products
Popular Brands:
More About Hydraulic Roller Lifters
1. The Valley Pan Comes First
Before you compare brands, deal with this. It is printed on almost every product in this category.
| They will hit a factory pan | Pontiac retro-fit hydraulic roller lifters require an aftermarket valley pan. They will hit most factory valley pans. Comp's Evolution lifters state they will not clear a factory valley pan at all. |
| Budget for it | the pan is part of the cost of converting to a retro-fit roller, not an optional extra. Order it with the lifters. |
| Tie bars | these are tie-bar lifters, so the pairs have to be oriented and free to move. Confirm clearance with the pan in place before the intake goes on. |
2. Travel and Preload Are the Real Spec
Lifter travel is how far the hydraulic piston can move, and it dictates the preload procedure. Getting this wrong holds a valve open.
| Reduced travel | the Johnson high performance lifter has .093" of travel and is preloaded 3/8 to 1/2 turn past zero lash. It is the 1964-1979 Pontiac retro-fit tie-bar lifter. |
| Short travel | the Johnson short travel lifter has .058" of travel and is preloaded at zero lash plus 1/8 turn, covering 1964-1984. A short travel lifter wants a much tighter preload than a standard one. |
| Comp Evolution | .842" diameter with a 2.130" seat height, .150" of travel and preload between .050" and .100", up to 3/4 turn past zero lash. It uses a patented Hydraulic Cartridge Technology design with a self-contained cartridge in a thick wall body, which reduces startup noise and gives a precision-controlled bleed down rate at high rpm. |
| Morel | the Morel retro-fit lifter is .842" diameter, 313 grams, with a 2.71" seat height. Preload the updated version 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn past zero lash. |
3. Oil Band Location and Your Block Casting
This is a Pontiac-specific problem and Butler flags it on the product page.
| The issue | the oil band location on the original retro-fit design is known to be slightly too low on a select few Pontiac block casting numbers. If the band sits below the feed hole, the top end does not get oil. |
| The fix | Butler sells the Morel lifter with revised oil band locations, where the bands were moved specifically to meet the Pontiac oiling hole position. That is the version to buy. |
| Pressure pin oiling | the Hy-Lift Johnson SE lifter uses a patented Direct Shot bearing oil injection system with a proprietary oil band that prevents debris from clogging the oil supply hole. Extreme engine testing showed improved durability by as much as 300 percent. |
4. Restricted Pushrods and Seat Height
Two more things to buy at the same time as the lifters.
| Restriction | Butler recommends a .020" or .040" restricted pushrod with the Johnson high performance and Comp Evolution lifters. The short travel Johnson lifter must use a .020" or .030" restricted pushrod. Smith Brothers builds all of those. |
| Seat height spread | seat heights in this category run from 2.130" on the Comp Evolution to 2.202" on the Hy-Lift Johnson to 2.71" on the Morel. That is well over half an inch of difference, and every bit of it changes pushrod length. |
| Check, do not guess | set the lifter on the base circle, use an adjustable pushrod length checker, and order the pushrods after the lifters are chosen. Butler sells Smith Brothers pushrods in custom length. |
Tell us your block casting, your cam and whether you already have an aftermarket valley pan, and we will match a lifter, a preload spec and a pushrod set that work together.
Not sure what your Pontiac needs?
Call our tech team at 866-762-7527. Tell us your engine, heads, car, and power goal, and we will put the parts together as one combination that works.