New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - cheapest lifters for LS1 stock or better?

I just got in to my motor to find that I have two bad lifters. I would like to upgrade but funds are stretched. Anyone have suggestions to get a new set of lifters as good or better than stock? Engine is otherwise stock but if I need a new cam after I don't know if I will go stock or try to find the $415 for the GM Hot cam and lifters like like found here http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ls1_engine_cam_install/viewall.html

Either way I need the lifters and only replacing the stock broken ones on a motor with only 40K miles makes me worry they may not last that long and with the motor apart is the time to upgrade. Though money is very very tight too.

Suggestions appreciated.

Go with ls7 lifters. Also replace the plastic trays while your in there.

http://www.texas-speed.com/p-309-gm-replacement-ls7-lifters.aspx

Do it right the first time, stock OEM replacements are LS7's, let them soak in oil the nite b4 install, and u wont b sorry, and go with LS2 lifter trays. call it a day

Do it right the first time, stock OEM replacements are LS7's, let them soak in oil the nite b4 install, and u wont b sorry, and go with LS2 lifter trays. call it a day

this.

Like everyone else said LS7 lifters, and some new trays to complete the install.

Anyone buy the ls2 lifter trays from ws6store? Sold as a pair or singles? It doesn't exactly say

damn they beat me to the answer. people making alot of power using them. im using them.

Like everyone else said LS7 lifters, and some new trays to complete the install.

It sounds fine but how much per lifter?

You see I only have 2 that are bad but that does not give me confidence in the rest lasting so I want to replace the entire set. I have found some from places like Comp that were pretty inexpensive. This was not planned for as I found what seemed like needle bearings in the oil drain plug and we all thought it was trunion bearings from the rockers. It was only going to be 400 bucks for my mechanic to do everything for me and I would install the rocker trunion upgrade kit in the hotel overnight and all done for a bit over 500 bucks one day me doing part of the fix to save $.

Then found that this was not the issue. Went ahead and did the rockers all anyway last night with the Comp Cams kit and I need to take the heads of to know if I need a cam too. If so I was thinking may as well add some power if in there since the cost of a cam can be inexpensive and one GM Hot cam makes 49 and that sounds like a good deal for the money and when I am done spending tons of money as it is another 15.5 hours in just labor my $400 in labor has upped itself by a huge amount. Then a couple new rockers were needed and a couple push rods. So if this was a couple months from now I would certainly pay more for something that was better in the long run. coming up with all this cash instantly is another deal since I had planned it costing me 3 times as much as a cushion in the event of unseen events, change the rear diff etc. too. So this was not planned so funding is lacking and is in a State away from me so not at my house to make it something I can not drive and wait until my next check in a month. So my options are limited with the car being in a shop a State away on top of the limited funds.

If that is the per price for lifters that were at that link I just don't have that much money today, or in the next few days. I will have to even rent one of their rental cars for the next weeks that will add up too. So keep that budget in mind. It is not that I would not like to have the better part or would choose to spend less I only have a finite amount of money too. Believe me I would rather have done this at my leisure and when I had my savings at usual so affording it would not be a big deal. Of course that is not when things happened though. And my car has just 40K miles on it and has been well taken care of so it is sad those lifters did not stay good and cause the damage to them and maybe my cam when I see it. So I am assuming I will have to do a cam very likely as well. More money. So more than likely there are these additional costs too. So a cam and lifter package would be nice if there were one that was a good value to at least gain some power after spending so much money. I would have taken some time and did it myself and saved all the labor, not possible. I am already at several times what I was supposed to have to pay at the outside.

damn they beat me to the answer. people making alot of power using them. im using them.

Yeah it sounds great, a hotter cam does too, but because of what I said about it being an emergency fix and a State away from home and funds being drained on other things too I wonder if I can afford them? It may be the best thing to do or the best bargain but exactly what is the best price on an entire new set which seems to be the minimum I should do since two went the others could at any time too as far as I am concerned.

Do it right the first time, stock OEM replacements are LS7's, let them soak in oil the nite b4 install, and u wont b sorry, and go with LS2 lifter trays. call it a day

Well as my posts say I wonder if I can afford this now as I was totally not prepared to be in this position, a State away from home with my motor apart in a shop to suddenly find I have this issue. To pay this much $ and not come away with more power at least is all the more disappointing a thought. I just paid some huge bills and am as low as I have been in years before this happeneed!

Not sure what you mean about not coming away with more power but you want your lifters to be in good working order. You have to pay to play :) but honestly just a set of LS7 lifters can't be that expensive you'll pay like 170 bucks for them shipped from a sponsor.

dumb question - would ls7 lifters alone give a power increase over stock?

Not sure what you mean about not coming away with more power but you want your lifters to be in good working order. You have to pay to play :) but honestly just a set of LS7 lifters can't be that expensive you'll pay like 170 bucks for them shipped from a sponsor.

170 a set? That would be nothing. What I meant was if I was going to pay this much money and dive this deep in to the motor it would be nice to be spending the money on upgrades while I am in there. For example the cam if that is damaged to install one for more power.

A few hundred bucks is not going to break me but big money is not available instantly.

dumb question - would ls7 lifters alone give a power increase over stock?

No, the ls7 lifter is the stock OEM replacement lifter for all LS motors.

No, the ls7 lifter is the stock OEM replacement lifter for all LS motors.

Are you saying there is no difference in what my 02 ls1 came with and the LS7's?

Are you saying there is no difference in what my 02 ls1 came with and the LS7's?

I believe they are just an updated design. But yes if you go to a GM dealer and tell them you need stock replacement lifters for your LS1 they will give you LS7 lifters.

170 a set? That would be nothing. What I meant was if I was going to pay this much money and dive this deep in to the motor it would be nice to be spending the money on upgrades while I am in there. For example the cam if that is damaged to install one for more power.

A few hundred bucks is not going to break me but big money is not available instantly.

If they engine is disassembled in a machine shop, throw a two piece timing cover on there before it gets reassembled, those things are a god send for cam changes.

Don't forget the trays also, the 170 I said wont come with those; but they are cheap as well. If you don't want to pay labor for doing something twice and have something else to drive. Pick the motor up and save up until you can do it all at once and save yourself some cash.

Also if you do change the cam your going to need pushrods and new springs.

Actually if you do the Hotcam or ASA cam you wont need new springs but for the same money you could get something better (not that its a bad cam, you can just see more gains with something else). Alot of the sponsors on here have cam kits that come with everything you will need. Depending on your mileage you might want a new timing chain while your in there.

I believe they are just an updated design. But yes if you go to a GM dealer and tell them you need stock replacement lifters for your LS1 they will give you LS7 lifters.



If they engine is disassembled in a machine shop, throw a two piece timing cover on there before it gets reassembled, those things are a god send for cam changes.

Don't forget the trays also, the 170 I said wont come with those; but they are cheap as well. If you don't want to pay labor for doing something twice and have something else to drive. Pick the motor up and save up until you can do it all at once and save yourself some cash.

Thanks I understand. I will try to check around for pricing.
The thing is the car is down in Portland and I live in Seattle and have to be home tomorrow. This was supposed to be just part of the two day trip since I don't even have a bay open at home to do any work and thought I had just some rockers to do. So I can't drive something else or do the labor later to save money. If I had planned this that is exactly what I would do. So I need to find the actual prices and if the trays are cheap. I could need a cam and won't know until the heads come off. It just happened at the worst time for me and no great solutions because of the timing.

Get ahold of CC Performance Parts, they are in St. Helens maybe they can help you out, they might have those parts on hand so you dont have to get them shipped given the time crunch.

Edit: sent you a PM

I agree. Throw in some LS7, LS2 timing chain set(also cheap) and if u wana go Cam get something bigger than Hot Cam(good cam but u can make more power with other cams)

Thanks for the link I will be replacing the lifters in my 6.0 soon.

Why is it so important to change the trays? Just wondering

Why change the trays? Only reason I can think of is if the lifters don't lock like they are suppose to when you spin the cam with the pushrods out.

Why change the trays? Only reason I can think of is if the lifters don't lock like they are suppose to when you spin the cam with the pushrods out.

That is a good question. I have no idea. It was a suggestion that cost very little so I did not give much thought. I am happy about the rest of the parts. Only the cam is for more power, the rest are stronger or better oiling etc.. I will be sure to not have more bearings in there or damaged parts and make it better at the same time. The parts and gaskets arrived Friday so I should be having it put together and dyno tuned very soon. I don't have any regrets not knowing much other than in the future I want a Procharger and some suspension mods. Perhaps I should have bought the two piece timing chain cover but money is tight and I want to get that dyno tune in if at all possible.

What all did you end up going with? Glad to see your making progress.

What all did you end up going with? Glad to see your making progress.

Well as it started finding rocker trunion bearings during an oil change and then when I went to do the Comp Cam upgrade kit found none missing in the rockers. Investigation turns out that the car was in the dealer at 16K for the rocker bearing issue. The dealer replaced the rockers and did a flush but obviously some left that only recently dislodged at 40K miles. So I did the upgrade anyway. Then the motor is being completely gone through to make sure there are no more bearings floating around. Since I am paying so much for this I thought I would at least upgrade a little. So I got the parts from Texas Speed. The 224R cam and chrome moly pushrods, beehive springs, LS7 lifters and LS2 plastic trays, ported LS6 oil pump and then of course all the new gaskets needed from WS6store. None of it planned but made sense if going this deep to see if any cam or lifter damage. I am going to get a dyno tune after this is done from someone that does cars like this so I am anxious to feel some difference after all this unplanned money spending.

Future plans that are now a bit further out are a Procharger running pump gas. I have been told that the 114LSA will allow this cam to be used with a blower. I will have to get a new trans and rear for that so with this hit it is not going to happen until sometime next year. The stronger parts and better oiling certainly won't hurt though and I did the rocker trunion bearing upgrade so that should not happen again.

glad you got it worked out.

glad you got it worked out.

Thanks for the support. I had been holding off on doing mods but finally decided that even if the limited production makes it more valuable 20 years down the road I would rather have those 20 years driving it modded out to my liking. :)

What all did you end up going with? Glad to see your making progress.

How much power are you running with what you have done? I noticed the 10 bolt which everyone keeps telling me is going to break when I get more power to it. Not sure what the exact power limits are but am thinking I will be getting a Strange 12 bolt or S60 depending on which makes the most sense. Also I know my stock A4 is not going to work long when major power gets put through it.

I am just going to have a reasonably small cam and a dyno tune now but when the blower gets added that will be a game changer and if I run it with the stock trans and rear I think they will break and be worth very little in resale value.

i was just about to get back on here and tell you my two fav cams were 228r from TSP and the brutespeed or epp blower cam. but that cam will do fine. you will love it.

i was just about to get back on here and tell you my two fav cams were 228r from TSP and the brutespeed or epp blower cam. but that cam will do fine. you will love it.

Cool thanks. I had to do this in a hurry and took the advice of Texas Speed. I was told to go with the 224R with my stock converter. I also started to second guess my choice of a single pattern cam but it seems that blower cams I have seen are often that way. So not sure if I would have done anything differently were I to have planned a N/A build but I think I will be ok if I stick to my plan of the low PSI supercharger.

The car got finished today finally but it is not running well not having a tune yet. My mechanic said it is dying at stop lights and when the A/C is turned on etc. though seems to pull pretty hard on the freeway. So I am waiting to go pick the car up on Monday when the dyno tuner can take care of all that before I drive it from Portland to Seattle and use it as my daily driver.

I am looking forward to testing it out after the dyno tune for sure though. Then as I can afford them I will get more mods done. It has been a long and expensive road so I am hoping that at least I will feel a significant power increase after having to spend so much $.