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Solid Roller Lifters
Pontiac V8 Solid Roller Lifters
Full Profile, Full Pressure — Solid Roller Lifters for Pontiac V8s
Solid roller lifters are the race end of the Pontiac V8 valvetrain. There is no hydraulic piston to bleed down, so the lifter hands the full cam profile to the pushrod and tolerates the spring pressure an aggressive roller lobe demands. Every one of them requires oil restriction, and the wrong body height in a stock block will drop the oil band out of the bore.
Butler stocks Crower EnduraMax and HIPPO lifters in .842" and .903", Comp Cams Endure-X, Doug Herbert lifters with pressure pin wheel oiling, and Morel Ultra Pro, in offset and no-offset, standard height and .300" taller body versions.
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1. Needle Bearing or Needleless
Crower builds the Pontiac lifter both ways and the naming tells you which is which.
| HIPPO | the needle bearing style lifter. A traditional roller wheel on needles, in the Pontiac bar configuration. |
| EnduraMax | the needleless, bushed design. Crower states these deliver 200 percent more life expectancy than competing brands, with crowned bearings and crowned outer races that greatly reduce lobe tracking. |
| Comp Endure-X | needle bearings precision sorted by size to distribute load evenly, EDM oil injection aimed directly at the needles, a tool steel axle, and a patented link bar assembly that combines a removable link bar with the safety of a captured one. |
| Pressure pin oiling | Crower, Doug Herbert and Morel all offer versions with pressurized oiling to the roller pin. On a high-pressure package that feed is what keeps the wheel alive. |
2. Offset or No Offset
Offset moves the pushrod seat relative to the lifter body so the pushrod clears the head and lines up with the rocker.
| No offset | the straight lifter, correct for most stock-port Pontiac head packages. |
| .180" intake offset | Crower's standard height Pontiac lifters are offered with .180" intake offset for packages that need the pushrod moved. |
| .150" offset | the taller-body X-series Crower lifters use a .150" offset version alongside the no-offset one. |
| Do not improvise | offset is dictated by the head and the rocker geometry, not by preference. If you are running a ported or aftermarket head, confirm the offset with whoever did the head work. |
3. Standard Height or .300" Taller Body
This is the one that ruins engines, and Butler spells it out on every tall-body product.
| Tall body is aftermarket block only | the .300" taller body, raised seat Crower lifters are for use in aftermarket blocks only due to the lower oil band location. On a stock block the oil groove may drop out of the lifter bore. |
| Standard height for a factory block | Crower's standard height Pontiac lifters cover 1955-1981 265-455ci and are the correct family for an original casting. |
| .842" or .903" | .842" is the Pontiac lifter bore. Crower's .903" versions exist for blocks bored to the larger diameter, which is an aftermarket block feature. |
| Weight matters | Crower's severe duty cutaway body is a lightweight design. Less mass at the lifter is easier on the valve springs at rpm. |
4. Oil Restriction Is Mandatory
Not a recommendation. Every solid roller product in this category carries the same line.
| The rule | all solid roller lifters require oil restrictors in the block or restricted pushrods. A solid roller passes far more oil to the top end than the drainback was designed for. |
| Two ways to do it | restrictors pressed into the block's lifter oil galleries, or Smith Brothers restricted pushrods in .020", .030" or .040", which Butler stocks in 5/16", 3/8" and 7/16" diameters. |
| Valley pan | the same aftermarket valley pan requirement that applies to retro-fit hydraulic rollers applies here. Check clearance before the intake goes on. |
5. Lifter Bores and New Lifters
The last two things to settle before the order goes in.
| Lifter bore support | a big solid roller under heavy spring is what cracks Pontiac lifter bores. The SD Performance Mega Brace in Butler's Mega Brace category reinforces the #2 and #6 bores and can now be installed in an assembled short block. |
| New cam, new lifters | Crower states plainly that new lifters must be used when installing a new camshaft, to avoid premature lobe and lifter wear. |
| Break-in | a roller lifter still needs a controlled run-in. Morel specifies varying rpm between 1800 and 2200 for 25 to 30 minutes and warns against washing the factory break-in lube out of the axle with solvent before installation. |
Tell us whether the engine is a factory casting or an aftermarket block when you order. That one answer rules out half the part numbers on this page.
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.